THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

RIVERSIDE 


A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

VOL.    I 


'  Get  homme  a  fait  assez  de  bruit  dans  le  nionde,  pour  que  j" en  dise  un  mot." 

Margravine  Wilhelmina  of  Baykeuth. 

"  Volupt6,  volupt^,  qui  fus  jadis  maitresse, 
Du  |)lus  bel  esprit  de  la  Grice, 
Ne  me  d^daigne  pas,  viens  t'en  loger  chez  moi, 

'l\i  n'y  seras  pas  s<ins  emploi ; 
J'aime  le  jeu,  I'amour,  les  livres,  la  musique, 
La  ville  et  la  campagne,  eufin  tout  ;  il  n'est  rien, 
Qui  ne  me  aoit  souverain  bien.  .  ." 

Fontaine. 


VAGABOND  COURTIER 

FROM    THE    MEMOIRS    AND    LETTERS    OF 
BARON  CHARLES  LOUIS  VON  POLLNITZ 


BY 


Mrs.  EDITH  E.  GUTHELL,  F.R.Hist.S. 

AUTHOR    OP  "  WII,HELMINA,    MARGRAVINE     OP    BAYREUTH," 
AN    IMPERIAL     VICTIM  .*    MARIE     LOUISE,"     ETC.    ETC.    ETC, 


WITH   A  PHOTOGRAVURE  PLATE  AND  16   OTHER 

ILLUSTRATIONS,  INCLUDING  SEVERAL  FROM  THE 

COLLECTION    OF  MR.  A.   M.   BROADLEY 


Vol.    I 


New  York 

BRENTANO'S 

1913 


P7 

v/,  / 


PKINTBD  IN   GREAT  BRITAIN 


FOREWORD 

The  story  of  Pollnitz  bristles  with  morals  for  us  moderns  ; 
or  it  would  not  have  been  written.  For,  beyond  the 
sunny  shallows  where  he  basks,  the  giddy  rapids  where 
he  whirls,  we  hear  the  thunder  of  the  Niagara  of  Ee volu- 
tion. 

For  help  in  tracing  his  varied  career  my  best  thanks 
are  due  to  the  present  head  of  his  family,  Dr.  Max, 
Freiherr  von  Pollnitz  ;  to  the  Director  of  the  Royal 
Prussian  Family  Archives  for  hitherto  unpublished 
letters  ;  and  also  to  Mr.  A.  M.  Broadley  for  generously 
placing  at  my  disposal  many  engravings  from  his 
unrivalled  collection. 

Edith  E.  Cuthell. 

GoLDHiLL  Lodge, 
May  1913. 


CONTENTS 

VOL.  I 

PACK 

Introductory 

PART  I 

xi 

The  Apprentice 

PART  II 

1 

The  Vagrant 

47 

LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 


VOL.   I 


Karl  Ludwig,  Freiherr  von  Pollnitz  .  Frontispiece 

From  his  Memoirs. 


Palace  of  Charlottenburg,  Berlin        .... 

From  a  contemporary  engraving. 

Charles  XII  of  Sweden  ...... 

From  the  Collection  of  A.  M.  Broadley. 

Frederic,  First  King  of  Prussia 

Sophia,  Electress-Dowager  of  Hanover 

From  the  Collection  of  A.  M.  Broadley. 

*'  Madame,"     Elizabeth     Charlotte,     Dowager-Duchess 
OF  Orleans        


FACING   PAGE 

xii 


Louis  le  Grand        ........ 

From  the  Collection  of  A.  M.  Broadley. 

The  Chateau  of  Versailles 

From  the  Collection  of  A.  M.  Broadley. 

The  Spring  at  Aix-la-Chapelle        ..... 

From  "  Les  Amuscmens  des  Eaus  d'Aix-la-Chapelle,  par  le  Baron  de  Pollnitz." 


Louis  XV 


16 

32 

48 

64 
80 

96 

112 


Frederic  Augustus  I,  Elector  of  Saxony  and  King  of 

Poland 128 

Prom  t'le  Collection  of  A.  M.  Broadley. 


160 


From  the  Oollectioa  of  A.  M.  Broadley. 

ix 


X  LIST   OF   ILLUSTEATIONS 

PACINa  PAGE 

Frederic,  First  King  of  Prussia 176 


The  Regent  Orleans 192 

From  the  Collection  of  A,  M.  Broadley. 

Old  Dresden 208 

Prom  the  Collection  of  A.  M.  Broadley. 

The  Chateau  of  Versailles 224 

From  the  Collection  of  A.  M.  Broadley. 

Royal  Palace,  Madrid    .......     288 

From  the  Collection  of  A.  M.  Broadley. 

Winter  in  Holland  .......     336 

From  the  Collection  of  A.  M.  Broadley. 


INTRODUCTORY 


The  Debut 


Time :  the  first  year  of  the  eighteenth  century — a 
pleasant  autumn  day. 

Scene :  the  first  Queen  of  Prussia's  new  palace, 
in  its  fine  gardens,  running  down  to  a  bend  in  the 
Spree. 

A  recent  acquisition  this  of  Sophia  Charlotte's. 
The  Grand  Master  of  her  Household  had  built  a  country- 
house  in  the  village  of  Liitzelburg,  to  the  west  of  the 
city  of  Berlin,  beyond  the  King's  great  "  hunting 
garden."  It  takes  the  Queen's  fancy  one  day  when 
she  drives  down  to  see  him  ;  she  buys  it,  and,  like  all 
the  Kings  and  Queens  in  Europe  of  the  moment, 
begins  to  build.  A  severe  and  stately  Renaissance 
pile  has  arisen ;  but  Her  Majesty  is  not  satisfied. 
Eosander  von  Goethe  is  busy  enlarging,  adding;  but 
the  completion  she  will  not  see.  Sorrowing,  her  hus- 
band will  rename  the  great  palace  Charlottenburg. 

But  to-day  all  workmen's  trowels  and  mallets 
are  hushed,  for  Sophia  Charlotte  is  giving  a  "  gar- 
den-party "  to  her  pleasure-loving  lord  and  master. 
Frederic  has  rumbled  over  from  his  suburban  "  Orange 
palace "  across  the  river.  For  the  first  King  and 
Queen  of  Prussia  are  reposing,  each  in  their  favourite 
villeggiatura,  after  the  toil  of  their  coronation  in  far 
Konigsberg — the  long  mid- winter  journey,  the  lengthy 
ceremonies,  thereunto  appertaining. 

The  King  is  sitting  in  his  apartment  overlooking 
the  gardens  Le  Notre   laid  out,  all  in  their  autumn 


xii  INTRODUCTORY 

beauty.  Terrace,  straight  paths,  carp-pond,  and  canals 
to  the  river ;  square  lawns  which  stiff  plants  edge  in 
serried  rows,  while,  as  sentinels,  stand  stone  vases 
and  trim  orange-trees,  the  latter  released  from  their 
winter  quarters  in  the  huge  Orangery  close  by. 

Prussian  Majesty,  square,  bulky,  round-faced,  round- 
eyed,  heavy-mouthed,  expressionless,  has  awoke  from 
his  siesta,  after  his  long  and  heavy  midday  meal, 
considerably  less  lengthy  and  ceremonious,  however, 
than  at  the  Berlin  Schloss. 

With  him  his  only  hopeful,  a  thirteen-year-old 
rough  young  cub,  the  darling  of  his  mother,  and  whom 
that  erudite  and  accomplished  lady  is  attempting  to 
tame.  Frederic  William  has  been  let  out  for  the  day 
from  the  Schloss,  where  he  is  kept  at  his  studies  and 
his  drills,  in  honour  of  the  "  garden-party."  With 
him  he  has  brought  a  juvenile  relation,  the  Duke  of 
Courland,  and  his  household  of  boy-companions,  whom 
they  have  formed  into  two  military  companies,  which 
they  each  command.  Later  to-day,  with  a  selection 
of  them,  they  will  act  a  little  French  play  before  the 
Queen. 

Around  the  King  are  his  half-brothers ;  the  eldest, 
Charles,  a  quiet,  grave  Prince,  with  difficulty  lured 
from  his  fine  castle  of  Schwedt  on  the  Oder,  beyond 
Berlin.  Of  the  three  others — gay,  good-looking  young 
fellows — Philip,  Grand  Master  of  Artillery,  has  covered 
himself  with  glory  by  the  fine  fireworks  and  illuminated 
set-piece,  "  Jason  carrying  oft"  the  Golden  Fleece,'* 
with  which  he  made  Berlin  glitter  the  night  of  the 
royal  return  from  Konigsberg. 

The  courtiers  are  in  attendance.  Old  Wartensleben, 
one  of  the  Great  Elector's  Field-Marshals ;  young 
Leopold,  Prince  of  the  Anhalt-Dessau  tiny  princi- 
pality hard  by — a  fine  figure,  proud,  severe,  yet  simple  ; 
not  long  married  to  the  Queen's  maid  of  honour, 
Fraulein  von  Fohsen.  His  mother,  of  Orange-Nassau, 
had  packed  him  off  on  a  tour  in  Italy,  to  forget  her. 
"  But  time  and  absence  had  not  had  upon  him  the 


INTRODUCTORY  xiii 

usual  effect  it  has  upon  lovers  ;  he  came  back  as  much 
in  love  as  when  he  started."  But,  "  born  a  warrior, 
he  longs  to  be  one."  Patience  "  young  Dessauer," 
the  elder,  war-clouds  are  lowering  :  Turin,  Kesselsdorf, 
the  "  Three  Cotillons'  War,"  are  in  the  lap  of  the  gods  ! 

The  thick-set  young  man,  with  purring  manners, 
evolved  from  his  Paris  training,  is  Chamberlain  Count 
Grumbkow — also  husband  of  a  maid  of  honour — of  a 
chameleon,  mole-like  character  he. 

That  self-effacing  civilian  is  Private  Secretary  Ilgen, 
"  solid,  brilliant,  hard-working  as  a  day-labourer, 
but  reserved,  equivocal,"  with  no  birth,  "  no  friend 
but  himself " ;  he  began  as  secretary  to  Minister 
Meinders,  Baroness  von  Pollnitz's  second  husband. 
He  will  go  further. 

The  two  cousins  von  Kamecke  are,  of  course,  present. 
The  "  grand  Kamecke,"  ci-devant  page,  and  now  Grand 
Master  of  the  Wardrobe,  quiet  and  commonplace,  is  as 
much  in  royal  favour,  as  the  "  petit  Kamecke,"  witty, 
lively,  brilliant,  polite,  "  a  courtier  le  'plus  rafflne," 
ambitious  and  cunning  to  boot.  He  is  deep  in  a 
game  of  chess  with  His  Majesty,  an  honour  now  of 
almost  daily  occurrence. 

Rather  askance  at  him  looks  Wartenberg,  the  Prime 
Minister.  For  he  has  a  shrewd  suspicion  that  the 
"  petit  Kamecke  "  had  a  hand  in  those  satirical  songs, 
which  Manteuftel,  the  Saxon  courtier,  has  indited 
about  the  Prussian  Court,  the  great  Count  Wartenberg, 
ne  Kolbe,  not  excluded.  Little  Kamecke  keeps  his 
bright  eye  on  the  Premier,  as  the  latter  will  find  out 
later,  to  his  cost.  For  the  Kameckes  have  the  Queen 
on  their  side,  and  the  tall  one  has  special  oppor- 
tunities, as  Wardrobe  Master,  for  influencing  the  King. 

But  to-day  Wartenberg  seems  omnipotent.  He 
began  as  an  obscure  Palatinate  gentleman,  coming  to 
Berlin  in  the  train  of  the  Princess  of  Simmerin,  who 
asked  for  him  some  small  post  at  the  Great  Elector's 
Court.  Slowly  and  inconspicuously  he  has  worked 
himself   up.     But   his   wife   is   his   "  Achilles'   heel." 


xiv  INTRODUCTORY 

The  recently  made  Countess,  however,  neither  fair 
nor  attractive,  merely  immoral,  is  not  at  Liitzelburg 
to-day.  Only  at  formal  cercles  has  the  daughter  of 
the  Rhine  boatman,  the  widow  of  the  King's  valet, 
the  late  mistress,  and  now  the  wife  of  the  Prime 
Minister,  the  coveted  entree.  It  was  difficult  enough 
to  secure.  Sophia  Charlotte  proudly  held  out  for 
long.  Her  concession  was  the  price  she  paid  to 
Wartenburg  for  arranging  for  her  that  little  trip  with 
her  mother,  the  Electress  Sophia,  to  visit  Dutch 
William  at  Loo,  in  order  to  secure  his  adhesion  to 
that  raising  of  the  Elector  of  Brandenberg  to  be  King 
of  Prussia  on  which  Frederic  had  set  his  heart.  But 
Sophia  Charlotte  revenges  herself,  when  obliged  to 
address  the  late  Frau  von  Kolbe,  by  speaking  only 
the  court  language,  French,  of  which  the  Rhine 
boatman's  daughter  does  not  understand  one  word. 
The  Court  laughs  up  its  wide  sleeves  at  her.  Yet, 
such  is  the  Wartenburg  influence,  male  and  female, 
with  weak  old  Frederic,  that  his  late  valet's  children 
have  been  ennobled  as  Barons  of  Asbach,  and  a  cabal 
to  crush  the  Prime  Minister  has  just  woefully  failed. 

To  this  group  of  court  gentlemen,  in  their  full- 
bottomed  wigs,  wide-skirted  coats,  huge  cuffs  and 
ruffles,  enters,  very  nervously,  a  small  boy  of  nine, 
with  a  heavy  burden  on  his  mind,  a  petition  in 
his  hand,  and  a  lump  in  his  throat.  His  dress  is  a 
copy  in  miniature  of  that  of  his  elders,  except  that 
his  fair  hair  is  caught  back  with  a  bow,  and  heavily 
plastered  with  powder. 

An  anxious  glance  round  hardly  reassures  the  little 
lad.  On  the  Prince  Royal,  his  young  comrade-in- 
arms, he  knows  he  cannot,  for  a  surety,  count  for 
support ;  for  Frederic  William,  as  he  has  found  to 
his  cost,  is  a  bully  at  heart.  The  presence  of  the 
great  Wartenberg  makes  him  quake  inwardly ;  for 
is  not  the  Prime  Minister  author  of  all  his  woe  '^ 

A  delay  follows  ;  hard  to  bear.  Then  the  King  tri- 
umphantly check-mating — he  always  does,  the  "  petit  " 


INTRODUCTORY  xv 

sees  to  that — looks  up  from  the  chessboard.  Frederic 
beckons  kindly  to  the  little  petitioner. 

The  boy  comes  of  a  race  of  soldiers  ;  between  his  deep 
bows — "  he  bows  very  gracefully/'  said  Louis  XIV 
of  him  later  on — between  his  obeisances,  he  plucks 
up  his  courage.  But  if  his  heart  would  only  stop 
thumping  !     Shall  he  ever  find  his  voice  ? 

Then  he  thinks  of  his  mother,  and  his  spirit  comes 
back  to  him.  His  poor  mother !  They  were  so  happy 
together,  she  and  her  two  fatherless  boys,  when  the 
rich  old  step-father  died,  after  six  months'  marriage, 
leaving  them  that  fine  house  in  the  Molk-Markt.  But 
the  King,  egged  on  by  the  Wartenberg,  must  needs 
arrange,  at  twenty-four  hours'  notice,  a  good  match 
for  that  lady's  late  lover,  gay  young  Chamberlain 
von  Wense.  A  court  cabal  to  overthrow  the  Prime 
Minister  uses  Wense  as  a  catspaw.  The  plot  ship- 
wrecks. Wense  is  lying  in  Spandau,  a  state  prisoner ; 
his  wife  and  step-sons'  future  ruined  ;  house,  furniture — 
all  sequestered  by  order  of  the  King. 

The  only  hope  of  liberty,  of  livelihood,  lies  in  the 
favourable  result  of  one  small  boy's  tact  and  per- 
suasion. So  he  thinks  of  his  poor  mother,  suffering 
for  no  fault  of  her  own.     And  he  finds  his  voice. 

High  and  quavering  rings  through  the  lofty  apart- 
ment the  humble  petition,  in  his  mother's  name,  that 
His  Majesty  would  be  pleased  to  have  the  seals  taken 
off  her  effects,  the  guards  removed  from  her  house, 
and  would  graciously  appoint  a  commission  to  judge 
her  husband,  that  he  may  be  punished  if  guilty,  and 
set  at  liberty  if  innocent. 

Bravely  the  boy  reads  through  till  the  end.  Then, 
suddenly,  the  King  and  the  courtiers,  the  sunlit  garden 
behind  them,  all  become  a  misty  blurr.  The  lump 
in  his  throat  wins  the  mastery,  and  he  sobs  aloud. 

Good-natured  Majesty  is  visibly  touched.  Kindly 
he  looks  down  on  the  boy,  and  speaks  : 

"  I  will  do  what  your  mother  wishes,  but  only 
out  of  consideration  for  her ;    I  sympathize  with  her 


xvi  INTRODUCTORY 

troubles ;  but  her  husband  has  so  deserved  my  wrath 
that  I  cannot  prevent  myself  from  making  him  feel 
it.  But,"  he  adds,  more  kindly  still,  to  the  weeping 
little  lad,  "  I  am  very  pleased  to  see  that  you  are 
good-hearted  enough  to  petition  in  favour  of  a  man 
who,  I  know,  has  not  acted  well  towards  your  mother 
and  yourself,  in  spite  of  the  orders  I  laid  upon  him 
when  I  married  him  to  your  mother." 

The  soldier's  son  lifts  a  tear-stained  face,  and  speaks 
up,  brave  and  loyal. 

"  I  have  no  cause  of  complaint,  Sire,  against  my 
step-father,  and,  even  if  I  had  one,"  he  adds  warmly, 
with  another  choke,  "  it  would  be  enough  for  me  to 
see  my  mother's  grief  in  order  to  beg  for  his  liberty." 

*'  Very  praiseworthy,  these  feelings,"  says  the  King, 
rising  to  end  the  interview.  "  Go  and  tell  your  mother 
from  me  that  she  shall  be  satisfied ;  and  be  sure,"  he 
adds,  laying  a  fat,  kindly  hand  on  the  boy's  shoulder, 
as  the  latter  bends  to  embrace  his  knees,  "  that  / 
will  take  care  of  you  !  " 

Prussian  Majesty  waddles  off  to  take  a  look  in  the 
gardens  at  the  improvements.  Comes  a  message  from 
the  Queen,  commanding  the  little  lad  to  her  study. 

Sophia  Charlotte  is  resting  upon  a  sofa  in  a  room 
covered,  walls  and  ceiling,  with  priceless  china  arranged 
with  her  own  hands— you  may  see  it  intact  there  to- 
day. Over  her  head  hang  lustres  of  gold,  by  her  side 
her  coffee-table,  cups,  and  coffee-pot — all  of  solid  gold. 

Fair,  fat,  stately,  "  proud  yet  polite,"  Sophia 
Charlotte,  in  manner,  as  in  character,  is  every  inch 
a  Queen,  though  her  errant  sister-in-law  did  dub  her 
in  her  love-letters  "  La  Boule."  No  stranger  is  she  to 
the  boy,  now  himself  again  ;  for  does  he  not  often 
come  down  with  the  Prince  Royal  and  his  little  com- 
rades to  Liitzelburg,  and  drill  before  the  Queen,  "  who 
likes  to  see  in  the  Prince,  her  son,  these  promises  of  a 
warlike  spirit  "  ;  and  is  he  not  to  act  that  very  evening 
in  one  of  those  French  plays  with  the  Prince  Royal, 
whom  his  mother  tries  in  this  wise  to  refine  ? 


INTRODUCTORY  xvii 

The  only  other  person  present  with  the  Queen  is 
her  favourite  lady-in-waiting,  Henrietta  Charlotte  von 
Pollnitz,  sitting  on  the  floor  at  the  end  of  the  sofa. 
The  boy's  father's  cousin,  she,  at  this  time  of  day, 
whatever  the  years  may  bring,  is  quite  a  good  friend 
to  him. 

Both  the  ladies  are  eagerly  awaiting  the  report 
of  the  momentous  interview. 

Kindly,  the  Queen  first  asks  after  the  mother's 
health.  "  I  order  you,"  she  says,  "  to  assure  her  of 
my  esteem  and  my  friendship." 

Then  she  asks  how  the  petition  fared.  The  little 
lad  repeats  the  King's  gracious  words. 

"  I  am  very  pleased,"  replies  the  Queen,  "  at  the 
good  mind  the  King  seems  in  towards  you.  Make 
the  most  of  it,"  she  adds  ;  "  study  to  deserve  his  favour. 
I,  on  my  part,  will  do  all  that  lies  in  my  power  to  sup- 
port you  in  it,  and  in  me  you  will  always  have  a 
real  protectress." 

Thus  did  nine-year-old  Pollnitz  make  his  debut  as  a 
courtier,  and  receive  his  first  lesson  in  court-craft. 


i-^ 


PART    I 
THE  APPRENTICE 

"II  y  a  un  pays  ou  les  joies  sont  visibles,  mais  fausses,  les  chagrins 
caches,  mais  r6els.  Les  spectacles,  le  repas,  la  chasse,  les  ballets, 
les  carnavals  et  les  autres  divertissements,  a  quoi  servent-ils  le  plus 
souvent,  sinon  a  cacher  les  int6rets,  les  passions,  les  soins,  les  craintes, 
les  esperances,  et  les  inquietudes.  Qu'a  la  verite,  celui  qui  a  vu  la  Cour, 
a  vu  du  monde  ce  qui  est  le  plus  beau,  et  le  plus  orne." 

La  Bruyere. 


CHAPTER   I 

Tradition  attributes  the  granting  of  the  patent  of 
nobility  to  the  Polnitz  family  to  the  great  Duke  of 
Saxony  and  Thuringia,  Henry  the  Fowler,  elected 
King  of  Germany  in  918.  Modern  genealogical  books 
of  German  nobility  make  this  tradition  a  fact.  In  any 
case,  the  family  appears  from  the  thirteenth  century 
onwards  in  the  Thuringian  land.  The  ancestral  castle 
was  certainly  that  of  Nieder-PoUnitz,  now  a  ruin,  near 
the  village  of  that  name,  between  Gera  and  Triptis. 
Ober-PoUnitz,  a  little  to  the  north-west,  is  also  a  fine 
old  castle  ;  but  Nieder-Pollnitz  seems  to  have  been  the 
chief  seat  of  the  family  till  it  was  sold  in  the  fifteenth 
century. 

Our  hero's  first  ancestor  of  distinction  was  one  of  six 
sons,  who  was  chancellor  to  the  Electors  of  Saxony 
in  the  early  seventeenth  century.  In  his  hands,  at  the 
beginning  of  the  Thirty  Years  War,  often  lay  important 
decisions  affecting  the  destinies  of  Germany  and 
Bohemia.  An  extremely  influential  man,  it  was  prob- 
ably owing  to  him  that  his  youngest  brother — who,  as 
Saxon  Deputy,  was  assassinated  at  the  Diet  of  Regens- 
burg  in  1622 — -came  to  be  the  Saxon  envoy  at  Brussels 
to  the  Archduke  Albert,  Governor  of  the  Austrian 
Netherlands.  He  married  a  Dutchwoman,  Anne  Petro- 
nella  van  Hell,  left  three  sons  and  a  daughter,  who 
married  Edwart  Morgan,  Heer  of  Landumnij,  a  colonel 
in  the  service  of  the  King  of  England,  who  took  refuge 
with  his  brothers-in-law  on  the  family  estates  at  Asch- 
bach,  near  Bamberg,  during  the  English  Revolution. 

Of  these  three  brothers-in-law,  Ernst  left  only  a 
daughter,  wife  of  the  celebrated  Hans  Adam  von  Of  en, 

3 


4  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

who,  in  1686,  did  yeoman  service  against  the  Turks 
with  his  3,000  Brandenburgers — though  the  Duke  of 
Lorraine  had  the  glory — and  who  died  a  Saxon  Field- 
Marshal. 

His  brothers,  Gerhardt  and  Christoph,  received  in  1670 
from  the  Emperor  Leopold  I,  for  themselves  and  their 
descendants,  the  patent  of  Reichsjrei  and  Pmmerherrn. 
This  patent  conferred  upon  them  independence  of  all 
authority  save  that  of  the  Emperor  and  the  Empire. 
It  was  bestowed  upon  princes  and  great  nobles  from 
the  twelfth  century  onwards.  Fanner  is  a  German 
corruption  of  the  French  banniere.  Originally  the 
General,  or  Lord  of  the  Land,  had  the  right  of  unfurling 
the  Banner,  in  order  to  summon  all  vassals  to  war.  But, 
with  the  development  of  the  feudal  system,  the  high 
title  of  Bannerherr  was  given  to  the  chief  vassal.  How- 
ever, when,  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  it 
was  conferred  upon  the  Baron  von  Polnitz  it  was  no 
longer  anything  but  an  honorary  title  of  distinction. 

According  to  the  patent,  the  spelling  of  the  name  is 
always  Polnitz,  with  only  one  "1.''  Though  various 
members  and  branches  of  the  family,  with  the  ortho- 
graphical licence  of  the  period,  seem  to  have  varied  it, 
the  younger  branch  adhered  to  this  spelling ;  but  our 
hero  always  signed  himself  with  two  "  Ts.''  King 
Louis  II  of  Bavaria,  when  the  question  was  submitted 
to  him  in  1884,  expressly  recommended  that  Polnitz 
should  be  considered  the  correct  version. 

Gerhardt  Bernhard,  the  youngest  brother,  our  hero's 
grandfather,  took  service  with  the  States-General  of 
the  Low  Countries.  He,  too,  married  a  Dutchwoman, 
Helianore,  Countess  of  Nassau,  a  natural  daughter  of 
Maurice  of  Nassau,  Prince  of  Orange,  the  great  soldier, 
by  Madame  de  Mechelen;  with  her  two  brothers,  and 
some  other  half-brothers  and  sisters,  Helianore  was 
legitimised,  all  receiving  the  titles  of  counts  and 
countesses. 

Now  the  first  wife  of  Frederic  William,  the  Great 
Elector    of    Brandenburg,    was    Louisa    Henrietta    of 


THE  APPRENTICE  5 

Orange  ;  he  himself  had  been  educated  in  Holland,  and, 
when  he  succeeded  to  the  Electorate,  evinced  a  great 
predilection  for  everything  Dutch,  and  liked  to  have 
Dutchmen  about  him.  So  it  came  about  that,  on  the 
strength  of  his  wife's  left-handed  relationship  to  the 
Electress  Louisa  Henrietta,  as  well  as  of  his  own  mother's 
Dutch  origin,  Gerhardt  Bernhard  achieved  a  most  suc- 
cessful career.  In  1657  he  is  described  as  Chamberlain 
to  His  Electoral  Highness  of  Brandenburg,  and  Colonel 
of  the  Mounted  Life  Guards.  From  1657  he  was  in 
command  of  the  Foot  Guards,  a  colonel  ranking  above 
the  general-sergeant-majors,  and  subsequently  became 
Governor  of  Berlin,  War  Minister,  and  Master  of  the 
Horse  to  the  Great  Elector. 

In  addition  to  considerable  military  service — for  his 
expedition  to  Fehrbellin  with  Frederic  William  see  the 
Hohenzollern  Chronicle — the  Great  Elector  entrusted 
him  with  important  diplomatic  missions,  and  on  June 
26th,  1660,  Gerhardt  Bernard  was  sent  by  him  to 
England  to  congratulate  Charles  II  on  his  Restoration. 

As  Governor  of  Berlin  Gerhardt  Bernhard  befriended 
the  fugitive  French  Huguenots  when  they  settled  in 
that  city,  and  their  first  meeting-place  for  divine  service 
was  in  his  antechamber. 

His  Dutch  marriage,  however,  was  not  a  happy  one, 
*'  very  ill-assorted,"  writes  his  grandson. 

"  My  grandmother  was  proud,  stingy,  and  jealous  ; 
her  husband  was  fond  of  spending  money,  and  also  of 
the  fair  sex.  Such  opposite  characters  caused  between 
them  a  misunderstanding  not  far  removed  from  hatred. 
My  grandfather,  however,  shortly  before  his  death, 
did  not  hesitate  to  ensure  to  her  the  enjoyment  of  all  his 
wealth.  He  repented  him  of  the  sorrow  he  had  caused 
her,  and  imagined  that  this  generosity  would  sufficiently 
repair  it ;  but  it  only  served  to  add  to  her  impatience 
to  become  a  widow.  She  had  not  even  the  kindness  to 
conceal  it  from  him,  and  the  last  words  he  heard  were 
neither  consolatory  nor  Christian." 


6  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

Gerhardt  Bernhard  left  four  children.  His  second 
son  died  early,  a  Captain  in  the  Foot  Guards,  leaving  a 
daughter,  Henrietta  Charlotte,  who  became  the  cele- 
brated maid  of  honour  to  the  Electress  Sophia  of  Han- 
over and  her  daughter,  the  Queen  of  Prussia.  Disagree- 
able and  sharp-tongued,  Henrietta  Charlotte  was  well 
hated  by  her  young  cousins,  and  by  the  Queen's  daughter 
Wilhelmina,  against  whose  marriage  with  the  Prince  of 
Wales  she  worked  with  all  her  power.  A  "  poisonous 
dragon,"  the  English  envoy  called  her. 

Of  Gerhardt 's  daughters,  the  younger,  Henrietta 
Eleonora,  married,  first,  von  Schulemburg,  Chamberlain 
to  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg  and  Grand  Marshal  and 
Equerry  to  the  Margrave  of  Baireuth,  and,  secondly,  the 
Marquis  Fran9ois  Duhamel,  major-general  of  cavalry 
to  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg.  Mortified  in  his  ambi- 
tions, the  Order  of  the  Black  Eagle  failed  to  soothe  him. 
He  left  the  Prussian  service  and  entered  that  of  the 
Venetian  Republic  as  Commander-in-Chief  of  their 
army. 

Gerhardt 's  eldest  son,  William  Louis,  was  brought  up 
with  the  Electoral  Prince — not  Frederic,  who  became 
the  first  King  of  Prussia,  but  Charles  Emil,  who  was 
supposed  to  have  been  poisoned  by  his  stepmother,  the 
Great  Elector's  second  wife.  William  Louis  married 
Louisa  Katharine,  Baroness  von  Eulenburg,  of  the 
now  well-known  "  princely  house." 

By  the  merest  chance  their  son,  our  hero,  missed 
being  born  an  Englishman,  and  probably  chronicling 
the  earlier  Georges  instead  of  the  Hohenzollerns,  for 
his  father  took  service  under  William  of  Orange,  after- 
wards King  of  England.  But,  aggrieved  at  being  passed 
over  for  promotion,  William  Louis  returned  to  Berlin. 
When  William  of  Orange  became  King  of  England  he 
remembered  von  Pollnitz. 

"  The  first  time,"  writes  his  son,  "  that  William  the 
Third  came  to  inspect  the  army  after  ascending  the 
throne,  he  found  my  father  at  the  head  of  a  cavalry 


THE  APPKENTICE  7 

regiment,  and  invited  him  to  come  over  to  England 
with  him,  offering  him  letters  of  naturalization,  and 
promising  to  raise  his  rank.  But  my  father,  speaking 
to  him  with  a  frankness  which  it  does  not  befit  me  to 
blame,  replied  :  '  Your  Majesty  broke  his  word  to  me 
once,  when  he  was  Prince  of  Orange  ;  what  might  he  not 
do  now  that  he  is  King  ?  ' '" 

William  Louis  died  in  winter-quarters  at  Maestricht 
in  1694,  leaving  two  little  sons — the  younger,  Charles 
Louis,  but  two  years  of  age — to  the  guardianship  of 
their  uncle  by  marriage,  the  Marquis  Duhamel. 

Charles  Louis  was  born  on  February  25th,  1692,  at 
Issuin,  a  village  near  Cologne,  where  his  father  was 
quartered ;  his  godmother  was  Sophia  Charlotte  of  Han- 
over, Electoral  Princess  of  Brandenburg.  At  his  father's 
death  his  mother  found  herself  in  very  straitened 
circumstances.  The  Dutch  grandmother,  as  we  have 
seen,  had  become  possessed  of  all  the  family  property, 
and,  exhibiting  her  national  characteristic  of  miserliness, 
gave  no  share  of  it  to  her  widowed  daughter-in-law. 
But  for  the  Elector's  assistance  the  latter's  position 
would  have  been  very  sad  ;  but  he  recalled  her  to 
Berlin  and  gave  her  a  pension.  Further,  he  quickly 
arranged  a  second  marriage  for  her  with  rich  old  Franz 
von  Meinders,  his  Minister  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs. 
Ten  months  later  she  was  a  widow  again.  Now  one  of 
the  richest  women  at  Court,  she  relinquished  the  pension 
she  felt  she  no  longer  needed,  and  took  up  her  abode 
in  a  large  house  in  the  Molk-Markt.  Always  devoted 
to  her  sons,  especially  to  the  younger,  she  kept  him 
close  to  her,  and  Charles  Louis  was  brought  up  in  the 
atmosphere  of  the  most  brilliant  Court  in  Germany. 

Berlin  was  fast  becoming  a  fine  city.  Frederic  I  and 
his  wife  were  both  great  builders,  and  were  busy  over 
palaces  and  bridges,  and  in  erecting  statues.  The  grim, 
mediaeval  castle  of  his  ancestors  on  an  island  in  the 
Spree  Frederic  was  adorning  and  enlarging  into  a  magni- 
ficent palace  with  archways,  porticoes,  long  galleries 


8  A  VAGABOND  COUETIER 

and  sculpture,  a  step-less  grand  staircase  up  which  a 
coach  could  drive,  and  the  amber-panelled  study  set 
with  mirrors.  Pesne,  the  French  artist,  was  painting 
with  the  scenes  of  Frederic's  victories  the  ceilings  of  the 
vast  and  lofty  halls,  "  where,"  writes  Charles  Louis,  "  I 
never  saw  in  any  palace  in  the  world  such  a  prodigious 
quantity  of  silver  tables,  console-tables,  candelabra, 
screens,  frames  of  mirrors,  arm-chairs,  everything  of  the 
precious  metal."  Frederic  left  £700,000  weight  of 
silver.  In  the  Hall  of  the  Knights  was  a  buffet,  extend- 
ing the  entire  length  of  one  side,  covered  with  huge 
silver-gilt  basins  and  bowls.  PoUnitz  lived  to  see  it  all 
melted  down  during  the  Seven  Years  War  ! 

The  little  old  stables  had  been  altered  into  barracks 
for  the  guards  and  over  them  Frederic  had  located  his 
picture-gallery  and  the  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences, 
founded  by  his  erudite  wife.  There  was  the  observatory 
behind  it,  with  the  newest  inventions,  and  Frederic 
had  his  collection  of  antiquities,  his  chemical  laboratory, 
his  royal  library  full  of  treasures. 

The  Friedrichstadt  was  the  new  and  fashionable 
suburb,  across  the  river,  close  to  the  long  avenue  of 
the  Linden,  planted  by  Frederic's  mother,  "  the  most 
pleasant  quarter  of  the  town,"  mentions  Pollnitz. 

Outside  Berlin  Frederic  had  built  the  palace  called 
Oranienburg,  in  memory  of  his  mother,  in  the  midst  of 
meadows  and  Dutch  canals,  "  with  the  finest  garden  in 
Germany,"  says  Pollnitz  ;  "  the  china  vases  in  the  palace 
unequalled  in  Europe."  Both  Frederic  and  his  wife 
were  great  china-maniacs  ;  the  discovery  of  China  had 
made  a  craze  for  collecting  all  over  Europe.  To  the 
Great  Elector's  castle  at  Potsdam  this  "  most  expensive 
King  "  was  now  adding.  For  his  wife  he  was  building, 
beyond  the  wood  into  which  the  Linden  Avenue  led,  the 
"  lordly  pleasure-house  "  of  Charlottenburg,  where  to 
this  day  may  be  seen  her  golden  table  and  coffee-set, 
and  the  walls  of  the  rooms  decorated  with  china  by  her 
own  hands. 

Sophia  Charlotte  was  daughter  of  the  Great  Electress, 


THE  APPRENTICE  9 

Sophia  of  Hanover,  and  sister  of  our  George  I.  That 
lady,  the  friend  of  Leibnitz  and  of  Bayle,  clever  and 
ambitious,  a  dabbler  in  philosophy,  had  brought  up  her 
daughter  creedless,  that  she  might  make  the  best 
marriage  possible,  either  Roman  Catholic  or  Protestant. 
To  the  Prussian  Court  under  its  rather  silly,  vain,  and 
pleasure-loving  middle-aged  monarch,  Sophia  Charlotte 
imparted  an  atmosphere  of  intellectuality  and  art.  Her 
sister-in-law,  the  unfortunate  wife  of  George  I,  had  nick- 
named her  in  her  secret  letters  to  her  lover,  Konigs- 
mark,  "  la  Boule,"  for  she  was  short,  and  too  plump. 
But  an  enthusiastic  Irishman,  secretary  to  the  British 
Minister,  describes  her  as  "  the  most  beautiful  princess 
of  her  time  .  .  .  her  reading  infinite  .  .  .  her  wit  inimit- 
able .  .  .  hers  the  art  of  combining  merit  with  learning." 

While  her  vain  old  husband  was  spending  his  money 
on  palaces  and  in  fetes  in  imitation  of  Louis  XIV,  Sophia 
Charlotte  was  engaged  in  the  difficult  task  of  training  her 
only  surviving  child,  Frederic  William,  a  rough  young 
cub,  as  unlike  herself  as  possible. 

Frederic  was  always  under  the  thumb  of  favourites, 
male  and  female.  At  the  time  young  Pollnitz  came  to 
Berlin  Kolbe  stood  highest  in  the  King's  favour.  His 
wife,  the  daughter  of  a  Rhine  boatman,  had  been  the 
King's  mistress  when  he  was  Electoral  Prince.  But 
she  and  Kolbe  had  now,  by  royal  patronage,  blossomed 
into  Count  and  Countess  von  Wartenberg,  and  the 
lady's  head  was  so  turned  that  she  was  the  laughing- 
stock of  the  whole  Court,  up  their  sleeves. 

The  machinations  of  Countess  von  Wartenberg  to  be 
admitted  to  the  Queen's  receptions,  the  intrigues  of 
Frederic  himself  with  the  Emperor,  the  King  of  England, 
and  the  Princes  of  the  Empire,  to  have  the  Electorate 
of  Brandenburg  raised  to  a  Kingdom,  and  the  reflex 
of  the  struggle  for  the  crown  of  Poland  which  agitated 
the  European  Courts — in  this  gusty  atmosphere  Charles 
Louis  found  himself  as  a  boy.  More  immediately  im- 
portant to  himself  was  his  mother's  third  marriage. 
This  was  arranged  by  the  Elector  and  Electress  them- 


10  A  VAGABOND  COUKTTEE 

selves.  Tlie  husband  selected  was  one  of  their  chamber- 
lains, a  young  Christian  Louis  von  der  Wense.  "  Neither 
love  nor  interest  had  any  part  in  this  marriage,"  writes 
Charles  Louis.  Von  Wense,  though  of  a  good  family  in 
Zell,  had  only  inherited  a  small  property,  which  he  had 
to  share  with  many  brothers. 

"  My  mother  had  never  spoken  to  him  before  she 
married  him,  and  had  only  seen  him  when  he  was  per- 
forming his  duties  as  first  maitre  d'hotel.  The  Elector 
himself  arranged  the  marriage  at  the  instance  of  the 
Countess  von  Wartenberg.  She  had  been  much  in 
love  with  Von  Wense  (perhaps  she  loved  him  still)  and, 
in  making  him  marry  a  rich  wife,  she  may  have  wished 
to  reward  him  for  the  attentions  he  had  paid  her.  It 
was  not  necessary  to  use  much  persuasion  with  the 
Elector  to  induce  him  to  mix  himself  up  with  match- 
making ;  his  fancy  was  always  to  arrange  marriages, 
good  or  bad  ;  if  only  he  saw  people  married  it  was  all  the 
same  to  him." 

He  himself,  and  Frau  von  Wartenberg,  suggested  it 
to  Frau  von  Meinders,  who  at  first  protested.  He 
came  to  her  and  told  her  that  for  her  sons'  sake  she 
ought  to  marry  a  third  time,  and  promised  that  they 
should  gain  rather  than  lose  by  it,  and  gave  her  twenty- 
four  hours  to  consider  the  matter.  The  Elector  then 
left  her,  forbidding  her  to  escort  him  out,  and  went 
straight  to  her  mother-in-law,  the  redoubtable  Eleanora, 
to  whom  he  gave  such  a  glowing  account  of  the  pro- 
spective son-in-law  that  he  won  her  over. 

"Till  the  next  day  my  mother  remained  very  irreso- 
lute, and  then  the  Elector  came  back  again,  as  he  had 
promised.  As  it  is  with  difficulty  that  one  resists  a 
sovereign's  orders,  my  mother,  though  always  opposed 
to  a  new  alliance,  seemed  yet  to  consent  to  the  marriage, 
which  took  place  a  few  days  later,"  at  Konigsberg, 
where  the  Court  then  was.     The  Elector  honoured  it  by 


THE  APPRENTICE  11 

his  presence,  but  all  the  relations  were  so  angry  with 
the  bride  that,  when  she  returned  to  Berlin,  none  of 
them  came  to  see  her.  The  Baroness  Eleanora  von 
PoUnitz,  who  had  reconsidered  her  opinion,  "  made 
the  greatest  noise." 

"Her  great  age,  and  the  honour  she  had  had  of 
serving  the  late  Electress,  mother  of  the  Elector, 
gave  her  liberty  to  tell  the  Prince  what  she  thought 
about  it.  She  grew  so  angry  with  him,  even  to 
childishness,  telling  she  was  broken-hearted  at  not 
being  strong  enough  to  strangle  him,  because  he  had 
given  von  Wense  as  a  husband  to  her  daughter-in- 
law.  To  appease  her,  the  Elector  said  he  would  do 
so  much  for  Frau  von  Wense  that  this  marriage,  far 
from  doing  us  the  least  harm,  would  be  very  advanta- 
geous to  us.  Indeed,  as  he  left  her,  he  appointed  von 
Wense  Marechal  de  Cour." 

By  the  end  of  the  century  the  Elector  Frederic  had 
obtained  his  darling  wish.  The  Emperor  at  last  had 
bestowed  the  coveted  dignity,  and  the  Elector  set  off 
to  be  crowned  at  Konigsberg,  the  old  Prussian  capital. 
Von  Wense,  by  virtue  of  his  new  appointment,  accom- 
panied Frederic,  but  his  wife,  owing  to  her  approaching 
confinement,  was  obliged  to  stay  behind.  Her  little 
eight-year-old  son,  Charles  Louis,  however,  she  sent 
with  her  husband,  as  a  sort  of  page.  The  memory  of 
this  impressive  journey  lingered  in  his  mind.  It  cost 
the  new  King  immense  sums.  To  the  firing  of  cannon 
and  the  pealing  of  the  bells  of  all  the  churches  in  Berlin, 
the  long  procession,  preceded  by  gorgeous  heralds, 
filed  out  under  the  castle-archway  on  the  long  mid- 
winter journey  across  the  Posen  wastes — a  procession  so 
long  that  30,000  post-horses  were  required  in  addition  to 
those  of  the  royal  stables. 

Pollnitz  describes  at  length  the  various  details  of  the 
elaborate  ceremony  of  the  coronation,  which  was  per- 
formed by  three  Lutheran  and  three  Calvinist  ministers. 


12  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

"  Though  there  is  no  altar  in  the  Reformed  Church,  the 
King  had  one,  and  even  presented  a  magnificent  crucifix 
for  it,  in  order  to  show  how  much  he  wished  to  honour 
the  two  Protestant  Churches." 

All  passed  off  just  as  the  King,  much  of  a  stickler 
for  ceremonial,  would  have  it. 

"  It  was  only  the  Queen  who  drew  down  upon  herself 
a  little  reprimand  over  a  pinch  of  snuff.  She  had  long 
been  watching  for  a  moment  when  she  could  not  be 
seen  by  the  King,  whose  throne  was  opposite  hers,  and, 
thinking  it  had  come,  furtively  drew  out  her  snuff-box. 
At  this  moment  the  King  happened  to  glance  at  her  ; 
she  endeavoured  to  hide  it ;  but  the  King's  look  showed 
her  well  enough  that  he  had  noticed  it,  and,  indeed,  the 
Prince,  who  was  not  amenable  in  such  a  matter,  in- 
stantly ordered  one  of  his  gentlemen  who  was  behind 
him  to  go  and  ask  the  Queen,  from  him,  '  if  she  remem- 
bered the  place  she  was  in,  and  the  position  she  held 
there  %  '  " 

The  Court  kept  carnival  at  Konigsberg— the  ancient 
city  in  a  whirl  of  festivities,  and  the  envoy  of  the  King 
of  Poland  coming  to  present  his  master's  compliments, 
though  the  Republic  of  Poland  never  recognized  the 
monarchy  of  Prussia.  Then,  on  March  8th,  the  great 
train  turned  homewards  again,  obliged  to  go  round  by 
Danzig,  because  of  the  sudden  thaw  on  the  Vistula, 
and  received  there  with  great  fetes.  Only  early  in  May 
did  Berlin,  gay  with  flowers  and  triumphal  arches, 
receive  its  first  King,  and  then  abandon  itself  to  merry- 
makings till  the  Court  broke  up,  and  the  King  went 
to  Oranienburg  and  the  Queen  to  her  favourite 
Liitzelburg. 

Only  Frederic  William,  Crown  Prince  as  he  now  was, 
was  left  in  Berlin,  to  go  on  with  his  military  drill. 

"  Care  had  been  taken,''  writes  Pollnitz,  "  to  arrange 
a  Court  for  him  of  some  size,  all  composed  of  young 


THE  APPRENTICE  13 

people  of  his  own  age.  The  young  Prince  had  formed 
two  companies  out  of  all  these  youths  ;  he  commanded 
the  first  himseK,  and  the  Duke  of  Courland  the  other. 
I  was  in  this  second  company,  and  we  sometimes  went 
and  drilled  at  Liitzelburg  before  the  Queen,  who  liked 
to  see  these  sparks  of  a  military  spirit  in  her  son.  We 
also  acted  some  plays  before  her.  It  was  thus  that 
this  Princess  endeavoured  to  imbue  the  Prince,  her  son, 
with  taste  and  delicacy  even  in  amusements."' 

Thus  early  did  Charles  Louis  become  the  comrade 
of  Frederic  William,  only  four  years  his  senior,  and  to 
whom,  in  spite  of  some  passing  difficulties  and  estrange- 
ments, he  was  to  remain  steadfastly  attached  for  life. 
Doubtless  he  had  to  put  up  with  the  young  Prince's 
ungovernable  outbursts  of  tyrannical  temper,  from  which 
even  the  latter's  own  children  had  to  suffer  in  later 
years.  Frederic  William  was  a  naughty  boy,  and 
doubtless  bullied  Charles  Louis  and  his  elder  brother, 
Frederic  Maurice,  as  much  as  he  did  his  cousin  the 
Electoral  Prince  of  Hanover  (George  II  of  England) 
when  he  went  on  a  visit  to  his  grandmother.  We  also 
hear  of  him  rolling  the  little  Duke  of  Courland  on  the 
ground  by  the  hair,  and  throwing  a  chamberlain  down- 
stairs, all  without  so  much  as  a  reprimand  from  his 
fond  mother.  Sadly,  however,  did  she  write  to  Fraulein 
von  Pollnitz,  our  hero's  cousin  and  her  favourite  lady : 

*'  I  have  much  trouble,  my  dear  Pollnitz,  and  I  must 
comfort  myself  by  telling  you  about  it  .  .  .  the  young 
man  whom  I  only  thought  lively  and  impetuous  has 
given  proofs  of  a  callousness  which  certainly  arises  from 
a  bad  heart.  '  No,'  says  von  Biilow  [another  of  her 
ladies]  '  it  is  only  avarice.'  Dieu  !  tant  pis  !  avaricious 
at  such  a  tender  age  !  One  can  correct  oneself  of  other 
vices,  but  that  one  goes  on  increasing ;  and  then  how 
serious  it  is,  because  of  the  consequences  that  ensue 
from  it !  Can  compassion  and  pity  find  access  to  a 
heart  dominated  by  interest  ?  " 


14  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

At  ten  years  old  Frederic  William  began  to  keep,  with 
minute  exactness,  an  account-book  of  his  daily  expendi- 
ture. It  is  a  pity  that,  in  this  respect,  Charles  Louis  did 
not  follow  the  example  set  him  by  his  comrade,  and 
acquire  habits  of  economy  which  would  have  saved 
him  much  trouble  and  harass  all  his  life  long ! 

Shortly  after  Wartenberg's  elevation  to  the  post  of 
Chief  Minister  a  cabal  was  formed  against  him,  led  by 
Count  Lottum.  Count  Wense,  as  he  now  was,  was 
chosen  by  the  plotters  to  fire  the  fuse,  otherwise  to 
undermine  the  King's  real  attachment  to  Wartenberg. 
Though  bound  by  all  ties  of  gratitude  to  the  Minister, 
and  especially  to  his  wife,  who  had  arranged  such  a 
good  marriage  for  him,  von  der  Wense  was  flattered  at 
being  selected  for  such  a  delicate  task,  demanding  not 
only  much  courage,  but  also,  as  it  transpired,  more  tact 
and  more  favour  with  the  King  than  he  possessed. 

One  day,  when  the  King  was  speaking  sharply  of 
Wartenberg,  who  was  not  exempt  from  the  eftects  of 
his  master's  irritability,  Wense  thought  the  occasion 
propitious,  and  proceeded  to  enlighten  the  King  upon 
the  Minister's  abuse  of  the  monarch's  name,  his  rapacity 
and  injustice,  and  his  wife's  extravagances,  Warten- 
berg's table  expenses  being  larger  than  the  King's.  The 
latter  listened  attentively,  and  Wense  fancied  that  he 
had  made  an  impression. 

However,  Frederic  repeated  these  calumnies  to  his 
favourite,  and  the  Minister  conceived  a  deadly  resent- 
ment against  Wense.  One  day,  being  alone  with  the 
King  in  his  coach  when  they  were  driving  to  the  hunting- 
box  at  Goltz,  he  took  the  opportunity  of  stirring  up 
Frederic  against  Wense ;  so  much  so  that,  when  they 
arrived  at  Goltz,  every  one  saw  what  a  hot  temper  the 
King  was  in. 

"  Contrary  to  his  custom,"  relates  Pollnitz,  "  he  spoke 
to  no  one,  and  he  ordered  my  step-father  to  have  dinner 
served.  When  he  sat  down  to  table  he  had  hardly 
touched  his  bread  ere  he  declared  that  it  was  bad.    He 


THE  APPRENTICE  15 

complained  to  von  Wense,  who  had  charge  of  all  that 
concerned  the  E-oyal  Commissariat.  Wense  replied  to 
the  King  that  it  was  true  that  the  bread  was  not  as  good 
as  usual,  because  the  baking-cart  had  broken  down 
upon  the  road,  and  that  the  baker,  who  was  a  little 
late,  had  not  had  time  to  bake.  The  King,  not  satisfied 
with  his  reply,  said  he  was  tired^of  being  badly  served 
and  that  he  maintained  that  every  one  must  do  their 
duty.  At  the  same  time  he  threw  down  his  napkin. 
Von  Wense,  having  fetched  another,  presented  it  to  the 
King,  who  would  not  receive  it;  he  ordered  him  im- 
mediately to  quit  his  presence.  Two  hours  later  Wense 
was  arrested  by  a  police-officer  of  the  Bodyguard,  who 
took  him  in  his  coach,  escorted  by  guards,  to  Custrin/' 

Here  he  was  treated  as  a  state  prisoner,  and  the 
Aulic-councillor  was  ordered  by  the  Minister  to  seal 
up  his  effects  in  his  wife's  house,  f 

"  She  was  in  the  country,  my  brother  was  at  church 
with  his  tutor,  so  that  I  was  alone  in  the  house  when 
the  police  came  to  execute  their  orders.  They  showed 
them  to  me,  and  asked  me  to  point  out  my  step-father's 
room  that  they  might  set  seals  everywhere.  I  hastened 
to  show  them,  and  they  left  a  document  with  me  when 
they  went  away,  which  was  an  order  to  my  mother 
not  to  appear  at  Court,  nor  to  ask  for  my  father's  liberty. 
I  set  out  at  once  and  fetched  my  tutor,  who  took  this 
unpleasant  news  to  my  mother.  Her  grief  was  as  great 
as  her  surprise  ;  she  had  a  real  affection  for  her  husband, 
and  she  was  unaware  of  his  schemes  against  the  Minister, 
to  whom  she  thought  him  still  devoted.  As  the  order 
tied  her  hands  and  prevented  her  appearing  at  Court 
herself,  I  was  made  to  go  and  beg  for  my  step-father's 
liberty." 

It  was  an  onerous  and  delicate  task  for  a  boy  of  nine  ! 
We  have  described  the  interview,  in  which,  to  judge 
by  the  impression  he  made  upon  the  King  and  the 


16  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

Queen,  he  must  have  acquitted  himself  with  a  grace 
and  tact  beyond  his  age,  and  given  promise  of  a  capacity 
for  courtiership  which  later  years  did  not  belie. 

In  high  hopes  Charles  Louis  returned  to  the  Molk- 
Markt  and  his  anxious  mother.  But,  alas  !  they  were 
not  speedily  realized.  It  took  infinite  toil  and  trouble, 
interest  and  influence,  ere  she  could  obtain  her  husband's 
freedom,  and  that  only  after  he  had  undergone  no  less 
than  seven  months'  imprisonment,  and  been  sentenced 
to  a  fine  of  £2,000.  No  such  severe  punishment  was 
meted  out  to  the  other  conspirators,  who  had  made 
Wense  their  catspaw. 

Witgenstein,  a  creature  of  Wartenberg's,  was  ap- 
pointed Grand  Marshal  of  the  palace  in  Wense's  place. 
The  latter's  disgrace  involved  much  sorrow  and  suffering 
to  his  family.  His  wife  followed  him  to  his  estate  near 
Zell,  and  her  sons,  removed  both  from  the  Crown  Prince's 
entourage  and  from  Berlin,  were  sent  with  a  tutor  to 
Liineburg  to  finish  their  education. 

Their  outlook  on  life  was  indeed  not  promising  ! 
But  worse  followed.  Wense  had  been  granted  three 
months'  grace  to  pay  his  fine.  His  wife's  property  was 
made  security.  But  it  proved  insufficient,  and,  as  the 
fine  remained  unpaid,  Frau  von  Wense's  fine  house  in  the 
Molk-Markt,  with  its  magnificent  furniture,  was  seized 
and  sold  and  the  house  turned  into  a  gold  and  silver 
lace  factory. 


CHARLES    XII    OF    SWEDEN. 
From  the  CoUeetiuu  of  A.  M.  Broad  ley. 


16] 


CHAPTER   II 

If  Frederic  the  First  was  weak  and  easily  led,  he  was 
kind-hearted.  Not  for  long  did  he  forget  the  sons  and 
grandsons  of  the  two  soldiers  who  had  served  his  house 
so  well,  and  who  were  related  to  him.  Presently  he 
recalled  the  two  Pollnitz  boys  from  Liineburg,  "  lest 
their  mother,  who  was  a  Lutheran,  should  bring  them 
up  as  such."  The  Prussian  royal  family  were  staunch 
Calvinist,  or  Reformed,  and  it  was  left  to  Frederic's 
successor  to  smooth  the  anunosities  between  the  rival 
sects.  In  the  case  of  Charles  Louis,  however,  as  will  be 
seen,  the  King's  care  was  not  destined  to  bear  lasting 
fruit. 

Frederic  had  just  founded  in  the  Konigliche  Strasse 
his  Academic  des  Nobles,  a  well-meant  institution,  "  to 
bring  up  young  nobles  of  the  Court  in  a  manner  suitable 
to  their  birth."'  The  King  gave  the  nominations ;  the 
fees  were  seventy-five  pounds  a  year,  which  included 
board,  lodging,  and  instruction.  He  paid  the  surplus 
expenses,  and  the  best  masters  had  been  collected.  In 
this  Academy  he  placed  Frederic  Maurice  and  Charles 
Louis  von  Pollnitz. 

The  lads  were  present  at  the  unveiling  of  the  statue 
of  the  Great  Elector  the  King  had  erected  on  Kurfiirsten 
Briicke.  They  must  also  have  seen  "Milord  Marl- 
borough "  when  he  came  on  a  visit  to  Berlin,  fresh  from 
the  victory  of  Blenheim,  and  thus  have  become  infused 
with  military  ardour,  which  soon  demanded  a  sphere 
of  action. 

Directly  Marlborough  left,  the  Queen  went  to  Hanover 
to  see  her  mother.  On  the  journey  she  caught  cold ; 
but,  recovering  on  arrival,  attended  a  ball.     This  caused 

1—2  17 


18  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

such  a  serious  relapse  that  all  hope  was  soon  abandoned. 
From  his  cousin,  her  favourite  lady-in-waiting,  who 
was  present  with  her  to  the  end,  Pollnitz  gleaned 
details  of  the  peaceful  last  hours  of  her  who  had  been 
brought  up  creedless. 

"  The  Queen,  though  in  the  flower  of  her  age,  saw 
death  approach  without  fear.  She  wrote  to  the  King 
a  letter  full  of  affection,  in  which  she  thanked  him  for 
the  kindness  he  had  always  shown  her,  and  recommended 
her  servants  to  his  care.  She  herself  comforted  Ernst 
Augustus,  her  brother,  who  was  in  real  despair  at  the 
state  she  was  in.  '  There  is  nothing  so  natural  as 
death,'  she  said  to  him.  '  It  is  inevitable  ;  though,  at 
my  age,  I  might  have  hoped  to  live  a  few  years  longer, 
yet  I  have  no  regret  at  dying." 

"  M.  de  la  Bergerie,  the  Minister  of  the  French  Church, 
who  helped  her  at  her  last  moments,  was  so  surprised 
at  the  strength  of  mind  and  calmness  which  she  showed 
that  he  listened  to  her  rather  than  exhorted  her.  '  I 
have  made  a  serious  study  of  my  religion  for  the  last 
twenty  years  ;  I  have  read  attentively  books  about  it, 
in  order  to  be  in  doubt  of  what  I  ought  to  think  about 
it.  You  cannot  tell  me  anything  that  I  have  not  read, 
and  what  you  tell  me  will  certainly  not  add  anything 
to  my  feelings."  Then,  turning  to  my  cousin,  who  was 
on  the  other  side  of  the  bed,  '  Alas  !  "  she  said,  '  what 
useless  ceremonies  they  are  going  to  perform  over  this 
body  !  "  Seeing  Fraulein  von  Pollnitz  burst  into  tears, 
she  asked,  *  Why  do  you  weep  ?  Do  you  think  I  am 
immortal  ?  "  At  the  same  time  she  held  out  her  hand 
to  Duke  Ernst,  her  brother,  saying,  *  My  dear  brother, 
I  am  suffocating  !  "  and  she  died  at  once."" 

By  this  news  the  King  "  was  so  shocked  that  he  fell 
several  times  into  a  fainting  fit,""  says  Pollnitz,  adding 
sadly  and  gratefully,  "  I  myself,  and  also  all  my  family, 
lost  a  firm  and  real  protectrice."" 

*'  The  idea  of  rendering  to  the  Queen  all  the  honours 
due  to  her  rank  stayed  for  a  while  the  King's  grief,""  he 


THE  APPRENTICE  19 

adds.  Frederic  ever  loved  pomp  and  ceremony.  He 
gave  Sophia  Charlotte  a  magnificent  funeral,  which, 
begun  by  the  Elector  at  Hanover,  was  carried  on 
through  Zell  to  the  frontiers  of  Brandenburg,  and  into 
Berlm.  The  lads  from  the  Academic  des  Nobles  of 
course  attended,  and  Pollnitz  was  impressed  by  all  the 
royalties  m  their  long  black  cloaks,  while  the  Parliament 
of  Orange,  sheltering  at  Berlin  from  Louis  XIV's  orders 
for  compulsory  conversion,  appeared,  by  the  King's 
desire,  in  their  red  robes. 

Shortly  after  this  the  Pollnitz  boys  took  the  principal 
parts  in  another  funeral  ceremony,  that  of  a  member  of 
their  own  family,  in  which  they  acted  as  chief  mourners. 
Their  guardian,  the  Marquis  Duhamel,  had  died  in  the 
Morea,  fighting  the  Turks,  as  generalissimo  of  the  Vene- 
tian army.  His  wife,  their  father's  sister,  who  was  with 
him,  returned  to  Venice,  intending  to  go  back  to  Berlin. 
But,  upon  disembarking,  she  was  put  into  quarantine, 
and  died  in  the  lazaretto.  As  she  had  expressed  a  wish 
to  be  buried  in  her  native  city,  her  two  nephews,  only 
now  fourteen  and  thirteen,  and  one  of  her  nieces,  who 
were  her  heirs — for  she  died  childless — undertook  the 
long  journey  through  Southern  Germany  and  Austria 
to  carry  out  their  aunt's  last  wishes.  Thus  it  came 
about  that  Charles  Louis  first  imbibed  a  taste  for  travel- 
ling, and  that  his  glimpse  of  Venice,  then  the  gayest  city 
in  Europe,  whetted  his  appetite  for  pleasure  resorts. 
They  buried  their  aunt  Henrietta  under  the  new  Re- 
formed Church,  "  in  the  catacombs,  recently  built," 
says  Pollnitz,  "  to  bury  any  who  desired  it." 

The  Queen's  death  hardly  affected  the  pleasures  at 
Court.  Prussia  was  now  at  peace,  but  the  war  of  the 
Spanish  Succession  raged  in  Southern  Europe  and  the 
Low  Countries,  and  that  of  the  Polish  Succession  de- 
vastated Poland  and  Saxony,  and  Charles  of  Sweden  was 
"  carrying  fire  and  sword  wherever  he  went."  The 
Prussian  troops  hired  out  to  fight  in  North  Italy  and 
Flanders  earned  the  praise  of  Prince  Eugene,  and  one 
can  well  imagine  that  the  youths  at  the  Academy  of 


20  A  VAGABOND   COURTIER 

Nobles  burned  with  military  ardour,  and  fretted  against 
the  court  pageants  of  which  they  had  more  than  enough. 

Doubtless  Charles  Louis,  with  the  rest,  worshipped 
from  afar  the  soldier  heroes  of  the  day — Marlborough, 
whom  they  had  seen  at  the  Berlin  Court,  young  Leopold 
of  Anhalt-Dessau,  beau  sahreur,  winning  his  laurels 
under  Prince  Eugene.  But  what  of  that  other  freux 
chevalier,  Charles  of  Sweden,  the  invincible  victor  over 
the  Muscovites,  now  planting  his  heel  on  Saxony  ?  In 
his  camp  at  Altranstadt  Charles  received  the  ambassadors 
of  nearly  all  the  Powers  of  Christendom.  Some,  includ- 
ing Marlborough,  came  to  beg  him  to  quit  the  dominions 
of  the  Empire ;  others,  to  attack  the  Emperor  himself. 

Early  in  1706  Frederic  despatched  a  special  envoy, 
his  Minister  von  Printzen.  Imagine  Charles  Louis's 
delight  at  being  selected  to  accompany  him  as  page. 
Charles  had  already  sent  to  Berlin  to  ask  the  King  to 
recognize  Stanislaus  Leczinsky  as  King  of  Poland. 
Frederic  had  been  magnificently  hospitable,  but  evasive. 
Charles  was  equally  evasive,  but  his  reception  of  the 
Prussians  "  quite  simple  and  altogether  military.  One 
might  have  applied  to  him  the  verses  which  Crebillon 
in  Rliadamistus  puts  into  Parasmane's  mouth : 

"'La  nature  maratre  de  ces  aflreux  climats, 

Ne  produit,  au  lieu  d'or,  que  du  fer,  des  soldats.'  " 

Even  at  that  age  PoUnitz  had  a  natural  eye  for  dress. 
He  noted  that  the  King  and  the  Swedes  alike — 

"  Wore  great  plain  hats  with  a  brass  button ;  the  tight 
jacket,  dark  blue  waistcoat,  and  breeches,  chamois 
colour,  or  elk-skin.  They  mostly  wore  gloves  of  elk- 
skin,  or  some  other  thick  skin,  which  covered  the  sleeves, 
which  were  small  as  the  Swedes  still  wear  them.'' 

A  great  contrast  to  the  gay  Prussians  in  full-skirted, 
gold-braided  coats  and  full  bottomed  wigs. 

"The  King  was  always  booted  and  spurred,  with  the 
tails  of  his  coat  buttoned  up,  as  if  ready  to  mount  his 


THE  APPRENTICE  21 

horse.  He  was  well-built,  above  ordinary  height, 
supple  below ;  he  had  broad  shoulders,  and  altogether 
was  a  fine  man.  He  held  himself  very  upright,  and 
had  an  imposing  air ;  when  he  walked  he  dragged  one 
leg  a  little,  since,  in  consequence  of  a  fall  from  his  horse 
at  Cracow,  he  broke  his  thigh.  No  one  sat  a  horse 
better  than  he  did.  He  covered  eight  to  ten  German 
miles  a  day  simply  for  a  ride." 

The  hero  gave  audience  in  a  barn  which  made  a  large 
hall,  the  walls  and  ceiling  of  which  were  covered  with 
carpets.  Charles  was  at  the  end  of  the  hall,  leaning 
against  a  table.  His  hat  was  on  his  head  ;  he  uncovered 
at  the  first  bow  the  ambassador  made  him.  Then,  the 
King  and  the  ambassador  having  covered  themselves, 
the  latter  spoke,  but  only  said  the  usual  compliments. 
Charles  answered  in  a  few  words.  After  the  audience 
the  ambassador  asked  permission  to  present  his  suite. 

"  '  If  they  wish  to  see  the  King  of  Sweden,"  he  replied, 
'  let  them  come  to  Stockholm ;  here  they  will  only  see 
a  soldier.'  He  looked  at  us,  gave  us  a  gracious  nod,  to 
which  we  replied  by  a  low  bow.  The  ambassador  dined 
with  the  King ;  as  for  his  suite,  we  were  asked  to  dine 
with  Count  Piper,  who  treated  us  very  civilly.  The  am- 
bassador came  to  us  just  as  we  had  got  to  the  soup. 
The  King  had  only  been  half  an  hour  at  table." 

"  Charles  XII  treated  M.  von  Printzen  with  kindness 
and  confidence  when  at  his  camp ;  as  for  us,  we  con- 
gratulated ourselves  much  on  the  civilities  and  kind 
welcome  the  Swedes  gave  us." 

But  Printzen  was  no  luckier  in  his  negotiations  for 
Augustus  than  Charles's  envoy  had  been  at  Berlin  for 
Stanislaus. 

To  Blenheim  succeeded  Ramillies,  Marlborough 
writing  to  congratulate  Frederic  on  the  fine  share  the 
Prussian  troops  had  had  in  that  victory.  After 
Ramillies,  the  defence  of  Turin,  which  Jgave  occasion 


22  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

for  the  "  distinguished  valour  "  of  the  Prince  of  Anhalt ; 
"  the  Prussians  show  great  bravery,  and  suffer  much, 
especially  the  Grenadiers,  worthy  of  praise  and  the 
admiration  of  everybody,"  writes  the  Duke  of  Savoy. 
Patriotic  feelings  and  a  thirst  for  glory  mounted  high  at 
the  Academie  des  Nobles.  But  there  were  more  court 
junkettings  for  Pollnitz  to  go  through  ere  he  received 
his  baptism  of  fire. 

The  pleasing  news  of  Ramillies  reached  the  King  at 
Hanover,  where  he  was  arranging  the  marriage,  planned 
by  his  wife  before  her  death,  of  the  Prince  Royal  with 
his  first  cousin,  Sophia  Dorothea,  daughter  of  the 
Elector,  afterwards  George  II,  and  of  the  unfortunate 
Dorothea,  who,  interned  long  years  ago  in  her  lonely 
castle  of  Ahlden,  was  to  have  no  part  nor  lot  in  her 
daughter's  magnificent  wedding. 

Pollnitz,  with  his  eye  for  millinery,  relates  that  the 
bride  had — 


"  A  trousseau  the  like  of  which  had  never  a  princess 
of  Germany  before.  The  purchases  had  been  made  in 
Paris,  Madame,  the  Duchess  of  Orleans,  the  bride's 
aunt,  having  chosen  and  ordered  them.  She  showed 
them  all  to  Louis  XIV,  who,  on  seeing  them,  remarked 
that  it  was  to  be  wished,  for  the  Paris  shopkeepers,  that 
all  the  princesses  of  Germany  were  fitted  out  in  that 
same  way." 

Sophia  Dorothea  had  a  magnificent  reception  at 
Berlin.  She  was  "  of  much  beauty  and  with  an  agree- 
able conversation  .  .  .  her  figure  the  most  beautiful 
in  the  world,"  chronicles  the  British  Minister.  The 
marriage  at  the  Schloss  chapel  was  followed  by  a  supper, 
and  a  ball  opened  by  the  bridal  pair  in  the  torchlight 
polonaise  round  the  great  hall,  marched  to  the  strains 
of  kettledrums  and  trumpets.  For  six  weeks  the 
"  expensive  old  king  "  surpassed  himself  with  his  fetes. 
His  brothers — 


THE  APPRENTICE  23 

*'  The  Margraves  Albert  and  Christian  Louis  danced  a 
ballet,  '  Beauty  triumphing  over  Hero/  with  all  the 
youth  of  the  Court.  I  took  part  in  it/'  writes  Pollnitz, 
"and  I  recollect  that  the  first-mentioned  Prince,  who  was 
arranging  it,  and  who  took  gay  things  very  seriously, 
had  alternations  of  anger  and  reconciliation  with  the 
ballet-master  during  the  preparations  for  the  enter- 
tainment, which  were  for  us  a  kind  of  play  more  amusing 
than  the  entertainment  itself/' 

It  was  an  age  of  extraordinary  credulity,  and  Pollnitz 
tells  a  story  of  the  Court  about  this  time  which  exempli- 
fies it.  In  the  intervals  of  diplomacy  Lord  Raby,  the 
British  Minister  (renewing,  chiefly  by  means  of  the 
Countess  Wartenberg,  whose  friend  of  the  moment  he 
was,  the  alliance  between  Prussia  and  England)  was 
duped  by  an  adventurer,  calling  himself  Count  Cajetan 
of  Naples.  He  introduced  him  to  Counts  Witgenstein 
and  Wartenberg,  who  were  both  seeking  the  philosophers' 
stone.  These  told  the  King  about  him,  and  assured 
Frederic  that  this  adept  would  coin  millions  for  him. 
"  Expensive  Frederic  "  wished  to  see  this  prodigy ;  he 
spoke  to  him,  and,  as  Cajetan  "  had  the  gift  of  the  gab, 
the  King  was  easily  persuaded  that  in  a  short  time  he 
would  surpass  the  Mogul  in  riches."  Presents  flowed 
in  upon  Cajetan,  and,  at  the  end  of  a  few  months,  he 
was  pressed  to  give  a  proof  of  his  art. 

*'  This  took  place  in  a  room  in  the  Schloss,  in  the 
presence  of  the  King,  the  Prince  Royal,  the  Grand 
Marshal,  the  Grand  Chamberlain,  and  two  or  three  others. 
The  Prince  Royal,  naturally  suspicious,  had  undertaken 
to  supply  all  the  utensils  necessary  for  the  great  work. 
The  crucible  was  on  the  stove,  the  Prince  Royal  put 
into  it  the  metal  which  was  to  be  changed  into  gold. 
Cajetan  having  given  him  a  phial  containing  a  reddish 
liquid,  he  poured  a  few  drops  into  the  crucible  ;  then, 
with  a  brass  stick,  he  stirred  the  substance  which  was 
in  the  crucible,  and  after  half  an  hour  ordered  it  to 


24  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

be  taken  off  the  j&re.  They  let  it  get  cold,  after  which 
the  goldsmith  and  ojSicers  of  the  mint  were  called  in, 
who  discovered  that  the  transmutation  was  real,  and 
that  there  was  over  a  pound's  weight  of  fine  gold.  From 
this  moment  the  expert  was  looked  upon  as  a  messenger 
from  Heaven ;  he  was  put  up  at  the  Maison  des 
Princes,  or  at  the  Hotel  des  Ambassadeurs  ...  all 
his  expenses  were  paid,  and  he  was  created  a  major- 
general  of  artillery.  (!)  But  his  good  luck  did  not 
last  long  ;  he  asked  for  an  advance  of  fifty  thousand 
crowns  to  buy,  so  he  said,  the  original  substance  which 
was  to  produce  immense  sums.  This  gave  rise  to 
suspicions,  and  he  was  watched.  Meantime  news  came 
that  he  had  already  taken  in  the  Electors  of  Bavaria 
and  the  Palatinate.  He  got  word  of  this  and  disap- 
peared, carrying  off  his  presents.  Taking  refuge  at 
Frankfurt,  he  was  claimed  by  the  King  and  clapped  in 
Ciistrin,  where  he  was  hung  in  a  Roman  toga  of  gilt 
paper,  bearing  an  inscription  setting  forth  his  crimes. 
He  died,  maintaining  to  the  end  that  he  possessed  the 
art  of  making  gold.  His  followers  regarded  him  as  a 
martyr.  I  know  some  who  still  stood  up  for  him  a  long 
time  after  his  execution,  but  the  King  was  so  ashamed 
that  he  forbade  any  mention  of  Cajetan's  name  in  his 
presence. "" 


CHAPTER    III 

Frederic  Maurice  von  Pollnitz,  when  he  left  the 
Academie  des  Nobles  began  his  military  career  as 
cornet  in  the  elite  company  of  the  Royal  Gendarmes, 
the  most  aristocratic  of  the  Prussian  cavalry  regiments, 
in  which  every  private  was  of  noble  birth  and  ranked 
as  an  officer,  and  which  was  only  abolished  later  when 
the  Garde  dii  Corps  was  formed.  The  Royal  Gendarmes 
left  for  the  front  in  the  spring,  when  the  Duke  of  Marl- 
borough and  Prince  Eugene  reopened  the  campaign 
in  Flanders,  where  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  had  seized 
Ghent  and  Bruges  and  the  forts  near  Ostend. 

Charles  von  Pollnitz  was  now  employed  about  the 
Court.  But  the  King,  who  had  had  a  serious  illness  in 
the  winter,  went  off  to  the  waters  of  Carlsbad  ;  so  Charles, 
who  could  not  endure  to  be  left  behind,  asked  and 
received  permission  to  accompany  the  Gendarmes  as  a 
volunteer.  The  regiment  joined  the  main  army  at 
Louvain,  and  was  placed  under  Count  Lottum,  to  whom 
Charles  was  attached. 

"  I  was  with  him  all  the  campaign  and  enjoyed  it 
very  much.  Prince  George  of  Hesse  also  came  to  the 
army  as  a  volunteer,  under  Marlborough,  and  distin- 
guished himself  greatly."' 

Prince  Eugene  now  joined  Marlborough,  and  the  two 
generals  planned  to  dislodge  the  French  from  the  posi- 
tions they  occupied,  and  by  which  they  threatened  the 
navigation  of  the  Scheldt,  and  were  masters  of  the  rich 
tract  of  country  of  Vaes.  Pollnitz  modestly  describes 
the  action  which  followed  : 

25 


26  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

"  The  army  of  the  Allies  crossed  the  Dendre  at  Lessines 
and  the  Scheldt  at  Oudenarde ;  and,  above  that  town, 
the  French  crossed  the  Scheldt  and  came  and  camped  in 
sight  of  Oudenarde,  so  that  the  two  armies  were  face  to 
face.  Gradually  they  came  into  touch  and  the  battle 
was  joined,  the  French  brigades  forming  up  and  charging 
incessantly.  The  Allies  had  to  fight  without  artillery  ; 
they  had  only  four  pieces,  which  had  to  suflice  them,  the 
rest  of  the  guns  and  the  baggage  not  having  arrived.  On 
either  side  the  action  became  very  hot ;  with  the  greatest 
obstinacy  they  fought  for  several  hours,  and  always 
with  so  much  loss  on  the  enemy's  side  that  the  infantry 
was  put  to  rout.  A  great  number  of  squadrons  of  the 
Maison  du  Roi  of  France,  who  had  advanced  to  support 
their  infantry,  were  cut  to  pieces,  and  the  disorder  became 
so  great,  and  the  firing  went  on  in  so  many  places  at 
once,  that  it  was  impossible  to  distinguish  between  the 
Allies  and  the  enemy.  Then  the  order  was  given  to 
cease  fire  till  the  morning,  and  rather  to  let  the  enemy 
escape  than  to  risk  putting  our  army  into  confusion. 
The  action,  which  had  begun  about  four  in  the  afternoon, 
having  lasted  till  the  summer  dusk,  the  French  retired, 
part  towards  Ghent  and  Denise,  with  baggage  and 
artillery,  and  part  towards  Courtray. 

"  That  evening,  being  at  a  little  distance  from  the 
Prussian  Guards  with  a  few  Guards  officers,  I  saw  a 
horseman  coming  towards  us  at  full  gallop. 

"  '  Messieurs,  M.  le  Due  de  Vendome  orders  you  to 
retire  to  Ghent.' 

"  I  cannot  express  his  surprise  when,  for  all  answer, 
we  told  him  that  he  was  a  prisoner. 

"  '  Kill  me  !  '  he  at  once  exclaimed.  *  I  will  not 
survive  what  has  befallen  me  !  ' 

"  We  comforted  him  as  well  as  we  could,  and  took  him 
to  the  Count  de  Lottum,  whom  he  told  that  he  was 
M.  Duplante,  aide-de-camp  to  M.  le  Due  de  Vendome. 
What  had  deceived  him  was  the  Prussian  uniform,  which 
differs  very  little  from  that  of  the  French. 

"It  is  said  that  M.  de   Vendome 's  opinion  was  for 


THE  APPRENTICE  27 

passing  the  night  on  the  field  in  order  to  begin  the  fight 
again  next  day  ;  but  that  M.  le  Due  de  Bourgogne  and 
the  generals  were  in  favour  of  an  opposite  course.  And 
they  were  right,  for,  having  lost  nearly  twelve  thousand 
killed,  wounded,  and  prisoners,  they  would  have  found 
themselves  in  a  worse  plight  than  the  evening  before. 

*'  The  Prussians  helped  to  gain  this  victory ;  but  it 
cost  them  dear.  Von  Natzmer,  Lieutenant-General  and 
Field-Marshal,  was  wounded  in  the  head.  Baron  von 
Caustein,  Colonel  of  the  Gendarmes,  was  killed ;  his 
regiment  charged  the  Maison  du  E-oi,  and  was  very 
badly  cut  about.  He  lost  two-thirds  of  his  men.  Ziethen, 
cornet  of  this  corps,  received  severe  wounds  in  defending 
the  standard,  which  he  lost  at  last ;  but  the  Gendarmes 
took  one  from  the  Maison  du  Roi,  which,  during  the  rest 
of  the  campaign,  they  used  instead  of  the  one  which 
had  been  taken  from  them. 

"  There  were  in  the  two  opposing  armies  two  rivals 
for  the  throne  of  England,  the  Chevalier  de  Saint-Georges, 
and  the  Electoral  Prince  of  Hanover ;  the  one  sup- 
ported by  France  as  the  King  of  England,  and  the  other 
by  the  English  nation  as  the  lawful  successor  of  their 
reigning  Queen.  The  Pretender  fought  at  the  head 
of  an  Irish  squadron,  and  the  Electoral  Prince  com- 
manded the  English  cavalry.  Each  was  praised  by 
their  party. 

"  The  day  of  Oudenarde  was  all  the  more  glorious 
for  the  Allies  because  the  victory  was  won  over  the 
Due  de  Bourgogne,  who  commanded  the  French  army. 
He  had  with  him  the  Due  de  Berri,  his  brother,  and  the 
Chevalier  de  Saint-Georges.  These  Princes  were  present 
against  the  advice  of  the  Due  de  Vendome,  who  was 
not  listened  to  ;  the  cabals  which  influenced  the  Due  de 
Bourgogne's  mind  prevented  the  plans  of  this  famous 
general  [Vendome]  from  being  followed,  and  caused 
the  loss  of  the  battle." 

It  was  a  terrible  baptism  of  fire  for  the  lad  of  sixteen, 
this  duel  between  his  own  regiment,  which  so  greatly 


28  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

distinguished  itself,  and  its  counterpart  in  the  French 
army,  the  Maison  du  Roi.  But  no  doubt  his  strictures 
are  the  result  of  conversations  some  years  later,  when, 
in  the  idleness  of  the  galleries  of  Versailles,  the  Princes  of 
the  Blood  fought  their  battles  o'er  again ;  or,  perhaps, 
of  hob-nobbings  at  Sans  Souci  with  grand  old  Ziethen, 
who,  the  halo  of  the  Seven  Years  War  round  his  hoary 
head,  would  recall  to  his  old  friend  Pollnitz  how  he  won 
his  spurs  at  Oudenarde. 

"  Two  days  later,  at  ten  at  night,  Lottum  was  de- 
tached from  the  main  army  with  forty  squadrons  and 
thirty  battalions.  Without  meeting  with  any  resistance 
he  took,  and  at  once  razed,  the  lines  the  French  had 
thrown  between  Comines  and  Varneton,  and  spread 
requisitioning  parties  over  Flanders  and  Artois.  He 
then  rejoined  the  main  body,  and  on  the  19th  a  thanks- 
giving service  was  held  for  the  victory  which  had  been 
won ;  cannon  were  fired,  and  there  was  a  triple  salvo  of 
all  the  musketry/' 

A  council  of  war  decided  that  Prince  Eugene  should 
now  carry  the  war  into  the  enemy's  country  and  besiege 
Lille.  Charles's  war  experience  was  to  be  very  com- 
plete. 

"  On  the  26th  milord  Marlborough,  who  was  only 
awaiting  the  arrival  of  a  convoy  of  heavy  artillery  to 
begin  the  siege  of  Lille,  sent  a  detachment  to  Brussels, 
where  there  were  a  great  many  guns.  .  .  .  This  march 
was  covered  by  twenty  thousand  men  of  Prince  Eugene's 
army,  commanded  in  person.  Safely  the  great  convoy 
reached  Lille,  which  was  invested  on  August  13th. 
As  this  siege  was  the  greatest  which  had  taken  place  for 
a  long  time,  and  as  a  very  stout  resistance  was  expected 
from  Marechal  de  Boufflers,  who  commanded  the 
fortress,  volunteers  flocked  from  all  sides  to  assist  at  it. 
Two  great  Princes,  both  great  commanders,  thought  it 
worth  while  to  be  present ;    these  were  the  King  of 


THE  APPEENTICE  29 

Poland  and  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel,  who  had 
lost  two  sons  in  the  war,  and  still  had  four  with  the 
army.  They  were  present  at  the  opening  of  the  trenches 
on  the  night  of  the  22nd-23rd  of  August. 

"  The  army  of  observation  with  which  I  was  on  this 
campaign  as  a  volunteer  with  Count  Lottum,  was 
over  seventy  thousand  men.  It  was  encamped  a  league 
from  the  bridge  of  Espi^res,  and  covered  the  besiegers, 
to  whom  it  could  always  give  assistance  ;  also  it  could 
receive  convoys  which  came  from  Brussels,  Ath,  Oude- 
narde,  etc.  The  headquarters  of  Prince  Eugene  were 
at  the  Abbey  of  Loas,  also  a  league  from  Lille.  I  am 
careful  not  to  write  particulars  of  this  siege  ;  I  know 
only  too  well  that  to  treat  of  war  you  must  be  in  the  trade, 
and  I  do  not  wish  to  put  a  weapon  into  the  hands  of 
any  w^ho  may  wish  to  wield  it  against  me. 

"  Directly  the  artillery  had  arrived — two  hundred 
batteries,  sixty-two  mortar-guns,  of  which  twenty 
were  howitzers — a  park  was  marked  out  between  the 
Deuthe  and  the  Marque  on  which  all  this  artillery  was 
placed  until  the  lines  of  circumvallation  were  made,  and 
the  fascines  and  gabions  had  been  got  ready  for  the 
trenches. 

"  During  the  interval  a  very  extraordinary  accident 
happened.  The  Prince  of  Nassau-Orange,  Stadtholder 
of  Frisia,  was  having  his  cravat  tied  by  his  valet  when 
a  camion-ball  fired  from  the  outermost  works  of  the  for- 
tress carried  off  the  servant's  head.  The  Prince,  covered 
with  blood  which  had  spouted  out  over  him,  retired  into 
another  room  and  changed  both  his  clothes  and  his 
quarters. 

"  On  the  night  of  the  22nd-23rd  August  the  trenches 
were  opened  ;  two  assaults  were  led  by  the  engineers 
Desroaques  and  May,  French  refugees  in  the  service 
of  the  States,  and  who  both,  according  to  the  opinion 
of  the  generals  of  the  army,  were  much  inferior  to  the 
Coehorns  and  the  Vaubans.  While  these  former  gentle- 
men pushed  on  the  siege  rather  slowly,  we  heard  that 
the  Due  de  Berri,  coming  up  with  his  army  on  the 


30  A  VAGABOND  COUETIER 

Moselle,  had  joined  that  of  the  Due  de  Boiirgogne.  This 
news  caused  Prince  Eugene  to  come  and  confer  with  the 
Duke  of  Marlborough.  These  two  generals  decided 
that  the  army  of  observation  should  close  upon  Lille, 
encamping  behind  the  Marque,  where  it  would  be 
protected  by  a  marsh.  The  French  also  advanced, 
wishing  to  gain  the  plain  at  the  source  of  the  Marque. 
This  movement  of  the  enemy  decided  the  allied  generals 
to  go  across  this  plain  under  good  escort  to  examine  the 
ground  at  Phalempin,  an  abbey  lying  at  the  head  of  a 
brook  which  runs  into  the  high  Deule.  They  recon- 
noitred the  ground  they  wished  to  occupy,  and  the 
army  took  up  a  position  there,  reinforced  by  twenty-six 
battalions  and  seventy-six  squadrons  drawn  from  the 
besieging  force.  In  three  hours  they  were  ranged  in 
order  of  battle,  cavalry  to  the  front,  to  await  the  enemy, 
and  entrenched  themselves.  Directly  these  precautions 
had  been  taken  the  troops  taken  from  the  siege  were 
sent  back  to  it. 

"  But  the  Due  de  Bourgogne,  accompanied  by  his 
brother,  the  Due  de  Berri,  and  the  Chevalier  de  Saint- 
Georges  and  the  Due  de  Vendome,  came  to  reconnoitre 
our  entrenchments.  They  came  so  close  that  the  Prince 
Eugene  ordered  a  few  cannon-balls  to  be  shot  at  them. 
The  same  day  we  heard  that  de  Chamillard, Minister  of 
War,  had  arrived  at  the  French  army  from  Versailles 
to  see  what  was  going  on.  This  Minister  decided  that 
it  would  be  rash  to  attack  our  entrenchments.  The 
French  generals  only  endeavoured  to  cut  off  the  convoys 
which  came  to  us  from  Brussels  ;  in  order  to  do  this  they 
marched  to  Tournai,  where  they  crossed  the  Scheldt, 
and  posted  themselves  behind  it,  thus  cutting  off  all 
our  communications  with  Brussels.  Only  the  ford  of 
Ostend  was  left  open,  by  which  were  to  arrive  the 
munitions  the  Queen  of  England  was  sending,  together 
with  fourteen  battalions.  Milord  Marlborough  detached 
De  Wit,  English  major-general,  with  twelve  battalions 
to  go  to  meet  this  convoy,  upon  which  depended  the 
reduction  of  Lille.     This  convoy  was  attacked  by  the 


THE  APPRENTICE  31 

Comte  de  la  Mothe.  This  general  was  at  the  head  of 
twenty  thousand  men,  and  had  a  hundred  pieces  of 
artillery  in  the  wood  of  Vinnendahl,  where  the  Allies 
had  posted  themselves  to  cover  the  convoy  which  was 
defiling  behind  them.  The  action  was  sharp  and  lasted 
till  night.  The  French  were  three  times  repulsed,  but 
they  rallied  and  charged  the  escort ;  but  they  could 
not  prevent  the  greater  part  of  the  convoy  from  getting 
through.  The  rest  was  obliged  to  retire  on  the  road  to 
Ostend.  Notwithstanding  their  superiority  of  numbers, 
it  is  certain  that  the  French  were  defeated.  They  lost 
great  numbers,  and  retreated  with  their  general  to 
Bruges,  whence  they  had  set  out. 

"  A  few  days  before  the  affair  of  Vinnendahl  the 
Chevalier  de  Luxemburg,  afterwards  Prince  of  Tingri, 
son  of  the  celebrated  Marechal  Luxemburg,  and  eventu- 
ally himself  a  Marshal  of  France,  got  a  reinforcement 
into  Lille.  The  chevalier,  having  sent  word  to  Boufflers 
that  he  would  be  at  the  gate  of  Notre  Dame,  took  with 
him  on  a  very  dark  night  two  thousand  five  hundred 
horsemen,  or  dragoons.  With  him  was  an  officer  w^ho 
spoke  Dutch  well.  When  they  reached  the  gate  of  the 
besiegers'  camp,  the  advanced  sentry  called  out  to  him 
in  Dutch  :  '  Who  goes  there  1  '  The  officer  replied  in 
the  same  language  that  they  came  from  Marlborough's 
army  and  were  a  detachment.  They  were  allowed  to 
advance  as  far  as  the  gate,  where  the  captain  on  guard 
questioned  them  very  narrowly.  Unabashed,  the  officer 
replied  to  all  the  questions,  so  the  captain  let  them 
through,  and  they  filed  off  in  a  great  hurry.  Half  had 
already  passed  through,  when  a  French  officer  shouted 
to  some  troopers  who  had  fallen  out  of  line,  '  Serrez ! 
Serrez  !  ' 

"  Instantly  the  captain  on  guard  ordered  those  who 
were  outside  the  gate  to  halt,  and,  as  they  would  not 
obey,  he  fired  on  them,  which  exploded  the  powder  the 
troopers  were  carrying.  The  noise  which  ensued  sent 
the  Witgenstein  dragoons  running  up,  armed  indeed, 
but  only  in  their  shirts.     The  cavalry  which  was  under 


32  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

the  command  of  the  Prince  of  Prussia  mounted  their 
horses  and  pursued  the  enemy  which  had  got  in  as  well 
as  that  which  was  in  retreat  on  Douai ;  but  it  could 
not  catch  one  or  the  other.  Some  hundreds  of  French 
got  into  the  town,  a  great  many  were  blown  up,  and  the 
rest  ran  away  as  best  they  could. 

"  This  adventure  had  been  preceded  by  another, 
which  narrowly  escaped  carrying  ofl"  the  Prince  Eugene. 
This  Prince  had  been  wounded  by  a  shot  above  the 
left  eye  ;  he  had  not  yet  recovered  from  the  wound. 
One  day,  when  he  was  giving  orders  at  the  Abbey  of 
Marque,  he  received  a  packet  of  letters  ;  on  opening 
it  a  very  greasy  paper  fell  out,  which  he  let  lie  without 
opening  it.  An  officer  picked  it  up,  and,  having  examined 
it,  felt  very  ill.  Immediately  it  was  tested  on  a  dog ; 
his  nose  was  rubbed  with  it,  and  he  died  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  afterwards.  Thus  did  God  desire  to  guard  this 
hero  from  the  basest  of  treachery. 

**  The  affair  made  a  great  noise.  Every  one  congratu- 
lated Prince  Eugene ;  but  he  treated  it  as  a  joke,  and 
said  that  if  he  received  such  a  missive  again  he  would 
come  to  think  himself  a  very  important  personage, 
because  they  were  afraid  to  let  him  live. 

"  There  was  so  little  fear  of  being  attacked  that  most 
of  the  generals  left  the  main  army  in  order  to  be  present 
at  the  assault  of  the  counterscarp,  which  took  place  on 
the  night  of  7th-8th  September.  Our  people  carried 
it  with  much  loss,  and  took  up  their  position  on  it.  The 
attack  over,  we  started  to  rejoin  the  main  army. 

"  Unfortunately  for  us,  the  guide  who  had  led  us 
thither  had  fled,  and,  as  it  was  then  only  an  hour  or  two 
after  midnight,  we  found  ourselves  in  rather  an  un- 
pleasant predicament,  and  we  happened  to  take  just 
the  very  road  which  led  us  into  the  midst  of  the  enemy. 
I  was  riding  a  hundred  feet  perhaps  behind  Count 
Lottum,  who  was  in  his  coach.  Suddenly  I  heard  a 
shout :    '  Qui  va  la  ? ' 

"  I  confess  I  felt  a  little  surprised ;  nevertheless,  I 
comforted  myself    with  the  thought  that    perhaps  it 


FREDERIC,    FIRST     KIXG    OF    I'RUSSIA. 


32] 


THE  APPEENTICE  33 

might  be  a  sentry  of  some  Walloon  regiment  of  the 
Spanish  troops.    So  I  replied,  '  Officers/ 

"  We  were  in  a  road  with  hedges  mixed  with  trees, 
which  prevented  me  making  use  of  a  faint  moonlight 
by  which  I  could  have  reconnoitred  whom  we  had  to 
do  with.  So  it  happened  that  I  still  rode  on.  I  was  no 
sooner  out  of  the  bushes  than  I  found  myself  near  enough 
to  a  body  of  cavalry  to  see  that  it  could  not  possibly 
belong  to  us,  for  it  was  too  near  the  fortress,  and  it  was 
facing  us. 

*'  Perceiving  the  danger  we  were  in  I  retired  as  quickly 
as  possible  to  Count  Lottum  and  told  him  what  I  had 

seen.     Von  K ,  his  senior  aide-de-camp,  told  me  I 

had  seen  ghosts.  Kraut,  the  second  aide-de-camp, 
treated  me  much  the  same.  Indeed,  a  little  more,  and 
I  should  have  been  ordered  back  as  mad. 

"  Count  Lottum,  however,  thought  it  best  not  to 
risk  anything.  He  ordered  his  coachman  to  turn  back, 
and  the  Ordnance  Officer  was  detached  to  see  if  I  had 
made  a  mistake.  The  truth  of  the  fact  having  been 
confirmed.  Messieurs  the  aides-de-camp  were  seized 
with  an  extraordinary  fright ;  they  made  me  all  sorts  of 
apologies,  promising  any  reparation  they  could,  if  we 
were  lucky  enough  to  get  out  of  the  danger  with  which 
we  were  threatened.  At  last  we  escaped  ;  how  I  do  not 
quite  know,  for  if  only  the  enemy  had  advanced  we 
should  certainly  have  slept  inside  the  fortress. 

"  This  is  the  most  noteworthy  of  what  passed  after 
the  assault  of  the  counterscarp.  On  the  11th  there  was 
a  movement  on  the  part  of  the  enemy,  who  advanced 
close  to  our  entrenchments.  On  our  side  we  prepared 
to  receive  them.  Their  army  passed  the  night  under 
arms,  and  the  next  day  at  dawn  it  drew  up  in  order 
of  battle,  all  in  vain,  against  our  attack.  The  Princes 
of  France,  the  Chevalier  de  Saint-Georges,  the  Due  de 
Vendome  and  many  generals  contented  themselves 
with  reconnoitring  our  camp ;  but,  as  they  came  a 
little  too  near  our  trenches,  we  were  obliged  to  fail  in 
respect  to  such  great  Princes,  and  to  send  them  a  few 

1—3 


34  A  VAGABOND  COUETIER 

cannon-shots,  upon  which  they  deemed  it  advisable  to 
retire. 

"...  I  should  much  have  liked  to  be  present  at  the 
taking  of  Lille ;  but  I  was  obliged  to  leave  the  army 
some  time  previously.  Dankelmann,  my  guardian, 
had  received  an  order  from  the  King  to  recall  me  to 
Berlin.  His  Majesty  intended  to  give  me  a  post  at  Court, 
and,  as  he  was  thinking  of  marrying  again,  he  destined 
me  for  an  appointment  with  the  new  Queen." 


CHAPTER    IV 

While  Anhalt-Dessau  and  his  gallant  Prussians  were 
winning  laurels  in  Flanders,  the  Court  at  Berlin  was 
rent  with  intrigues  for  the  remarriage  of  the  King,  now 
nearly  fifty,  but  in  better  health  for  his  Carlsbad  cure. 
It  was  in  reality  a  plot  of  the  minister  Wartenberg — 
though  he  sedulously  kept  in  the  background— against 
the  Prince  Royal's  party.  The  Duchess  of  Zeitz,  the 
King's  widowed  sister,  who  lived  in  Berlin,  was  put 
forward  to  suggest  a  third  wife  to  Frederic,  as  there 
seemed  little  probability  of  the  Princess  Royal  having 
a  family.     But  she  bore  her  husband  nine  children  ! 

Frederic  was,  as  usual,  pliable,  and  a  bride  was  found 
in  Louisa  Dorothea  of  Mecklenburg-Schwerin,  less  than 
half  his  age.  There  was  a  marriage  by  proxy,  a  grand 
entry  to  Berlin,  and  fetes  to  follow.  In  Charles  von 
Pollnitz's  opinion  they  lacked  entrain,  as  the  new 
marriage  was  not  popular.  "  What  I  found  most 
worthy  of  notice  was  a  fight  of  wild  beasts  at  which 
Their  Majesties  were  present ;  the  Queen  killed  a  bear 
from  her  box  with  an  arquebus-shot." 

Charles,  as  we  know,  had  been  recalled  from  the 
army  by  the  promise  of  an  appointment  in  the  new 
Queen's  household ;  but  when  he  reached  home  he 
found  all  the  places  already  filled  up,  and  himself  left 
out.  He  complained  to  the  Grand  Marshal  of  the  way 
in  which  he  had  been  treated.  "  He  told  me  not  to 
trouble  mysslf,  that  in  a  little  while  he  would  get  me 
some  appointment  with  the  King " ;  and,  indeed,  at 
the  end  of  that  year  PoUnitz  was  made  a  Gentleman 
of  the  Chamber. 

That  very  day  he  heard  of  the  death  of  his  step- 

35 


36  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

father.  Von  Wense  had  never  regained  favour  with 
the  King,  nor  his  position  at  Court,  and  died  in  exile  on 
his  estate  at  Zell.  "  I  felt  his  death  very  much,"  writes 
his  step-son,  "  especially  on  account  of  the  grief  it  caused 
my  mother."  Louisa  Katherine  had  been  forced  to 
marry  this  husband,  to  whom  she  had  never  spoken ; 
but  she  had  learnt  to  love  him,  had  stood  loyally  by 
him  in  adversity,  as  in  prosperity,  and  she  "  never,  for 
the  rest  of  her  life,  got  over  his  loss." 

Not  unnaturally  young  Charles  waxes  spiteful  over 
the  composition  of  the  Queen's  household.  It  had  been 
made  up  by  Witgenstein,  who  had  given  the  chief  and 
best-salaried  posts  to  his  mother-in-law  and  sister-in- 
law. 

"The  former  had  never  been  out  of  the  depths  of 
Wetteravia,  except  to  go  to  the  fair  at  Frankfurt,  where 
she  had  put  on  all  the  pride  of  a  countess  of  the  Empire, 
and,  though  well  married,  was  better  fitted  to  figure 
at  Wetzlar  than  at  Court.  .  .  .  Though  of  the  best 
families,  not  one  of  the  six  maids  of  honour  had  ever 
been  at  Court ;  nor  were  they  well-mannered,  young, 
or  endowed  with  any  knowledge  of  the  world,  yet  so 
fine  that  they  were  almost  impertinent." 

The  Grand  Master  of  the  Household,  Count  Schwerin, 
though  well-mannered  and  used  to  good  society,  was 
not  the  man  to  give  advice  to  "a  strange  princess, 
little  used  to  the  whirl  of  a  big  Court."  Many  of  the 
chamberlains  and  gentlemen,  all  of  good  families,  were 
not  counts. 

"  Which  was  not  to  the  liking  of  Counts  Wartenberg 
and  Wartensberg,  and  Witgenstein,  though  the  two 
first  were  only  simple  gentlemen  by  birth.  But  the 
pride  of  these  new  Counts  had  risen  to  such  a  height 
that,  in  order  to  set  a  value  on  their  titles,  it  was 
prohibited  to  any  one  who  was  not  a  Count  to  dine  at 
the  table  of  the  maids  of  honour,  because  they  were 


THE  APPRENTICE  37 

Countesses,  though  many  of  these  girls  would  have  been 
delighted  to  marry  mere  gentlemen." 

Pollnitz  was  ever  keenly  conscious  of  his  own  birth, 
and,  moreover,  his  step-father's  death  had  awoke  the 
old  resentment  against  Wartenberg,  cause  of  Wense's 
ruin. 

Pollnitz  describes  his  daily  round  of  duty  as  Gentle- 
man of  the  C'hamber  in  the  Berlin  Schloss,  where  the 
King  aped  the  life  of  the  Grand  Monarque.  Now  that 
he  was  growing  old  Frederic  rose  later,  and  his  gentle- 
men did  not  come  on  duty  till  they  were  told  by  the 
valets  that  "  day  had  dawned  in  His  Majesty's  apart- 
ment/' which  was  between  five  and  six  o'clock  !  They 
were  followed  by  the  doctors,  and  then  by  footmen,  with 
the  gold  table  and  coffee-set.  The  beverage  was  handed 
round  by  pages  "  to  all  people  of  quality  present  at 
the  levee.  It  was  absolutely  necessary  to  have  two 
cups,  or  one  ran  the  risk  of  incurring  displeasure." 
After  half  an  hour's  talk,  "  the  King  saluted  with  his 
nightcap,  and  all  retired,"  while  he  was  dressed. 

The  ceremonial  of  the  midday  dinner,  which  followed 
upon  the  morning  despatch  of  business  with  the  Ministers 
and  Council,  was  elaborate  and  stately  in  the  extreme. 
Pollnitz  enters  into  every  detail.  The  amount  of 
etiquette  which  had  to  be  endured  ere  Their  Majesties 
could  take  a  bite  or  a  sup — for  which  they  must  have 
been  more  than  ready— is  really  astonishing.  One 
sometimes  wonders  if  eighteenth-century  Royalty  was 
quite  human.  It  is  a  relief  to  hear  that  His  Majesty 
took  an  hour's  snooze  in  his  study  after  dinner,  like 
any  other  old  gentleman. 

"  When  he  awoke  the  Gentlemen  of  the  Chamber  came 
into  the  study  of  His  Majesty.  Sometimes  the  Queen 
came  to  see  him,  sometimes  the  Prime  Minister.  ...  In 
summer  the  King  went  out  and  amused  himself  with 
a  walk,  or  with  fishing,  or  else  he  went  hunting,  particu- 
larly hawking,  of  which  he  was  very  fond. 


38  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEB 

"  In  the  evening,  at  six  o'clock,  His  Majesty  went  to 
the  Queen  and  stayed  there  an  hour  ;  he  then  returned 
to  his  apartment,  to  a  room  called  the  Tabagie,  because 
it  was  there  that  he  smoked.  Many  noblemen  had  the 
honour  of  smoking  with  him.  The  King  never  had 
supper  except  upon  special  occasions.  He  amused 
himself  playing  chess.  When  the  game  was  finished 
he  conversed  very  familiarly  with  the  Chamberlain,  the 
Gentlemen  of  the  Chamber,  and  some  privileged  courtiers. 
When  the  King  wished  the  conversation  to  cease,  he 
gave  orders  to  the  Grand  Master  of  the  Wardrobe  as  to 
the  suit  he  wished  to  wear  next  day  ;  then  every  one 
retired,  and  the  valets  of  the  chamber  and  the  wardrobe 
came  to  put  His  Majesty  to  bed.  This  was  the  routine 
of  the  service  at  Court.  Never  any  alterations  in  the 
hours  which  the  King  had  arranged  for  his  doings,  unless 
he  was  not  well." 

No  wonder  that  young  Charles,  fresh  from  the  excite- 
ment of  war,  the  freedom  of  camp  life,  and  eager  for  the 
pleasures  of  youth,  became,  as  we  shall  see,  exceedingly 
bored  with  his  daily  mill-horse  round,  of  which  he 
thought  that  ''  this  account,  though  perhaps  rather 
long,  would  be  less  tiresome  than  that  of  all  the  Litanies, 
and  other  prayers,  at  which  the  Queen  was  very  assiduous 
all  the  year." 

For,  shortly  after  marriage,  Louisa  Dorothea,  who 
had  enjoyed  gaiety  at  her  brother's  Court,  became 
exceedingly  devote,  under  the  influence  of  her  confessor. 
Prebendary  Borst,  and  of  Franke,  Professor  of  Theology 
at  Halle  University,  who  had  started  among  the 
Lutherans  a  sect  called  the  "  Pietists." 

"  The  Court  of  the  Queen  soon  became  like  a  convent,'* 
relates  Pollnitz,  "  no  one  seen  there  but  priests,  and 
prayers  and  sermons  going  on  continually.  .  .  .  All  the 
mummeries  displeased  the  King.  An  ardent  Pietist, 
she  was  so  zealous  for  her  religion  that  she  thought 
there  was  no  salvation  possible  for  those  who  professed 


THE  APPRENTICE  39 

any  other.  I  remember,  one  day,  she  was  talking  about 
religion  to  the  King,  and  that  she  said  that  she  was 
very  grieved  at  his  belonging  to  the  Reformed  Church, 
as  therefore  he  could  not  be  saved.  The  King  seemed 
rather  astonished  at  this  comphment.  '  What  ? '  he 
said,  '  you  think  I  shall  be  damned  ?  How,  then,  will 
you  speak  of  me  after  my  death  ?  For  you  could  not 
say  the  selige  [blessed,  or  saved]  King.' 

"  The  Queen  was  a  little  embarrassed,  and,  after  a  few 
moments'  reflection,  she  said  :  *  I  would  say  the  dear, 
deceased  King.' 

"  This  reply  annoyed  the  King,  who  shortly  afterwards 
retired  to  his  apartment.  I  was  that  day  on  duty, 
and  therefore  in  the  King's  room  with  some  other  noble- 
men. With  some  irritation  the  King  told  us  of  the 
conversation  he  had  had  with  the  Queen.  He  felt  it  all 
the  more  because  he  was  then  seriously  considering 
the  reunion  of  the  Protestant  churches." 

So  Frank  was  sent  back  to  Halle,  and  Borst  "  advised 
not  to  busy  himself  so  much  about  the  Queen's 
salvation." 

The  winter  of  1708-9  was  a  very  severe  one  all  over 
Europe.  It  brought  famine  and  pestilence  to  Prussia, 
so  prosperous  and  industrious.  Pollnitz  avers  that 
some  two  hundred  thousand  souls  died  of  the  plague ; 
but  his  figures  cannot  be  credited. 

While  the  Queen  held  prayer-meetings  in  her  apart- 
ments and  plunged  the  Court  into  gloom,  the  King  sent 
succour  to  the  starving  districts,  and  established  quaran- 
tine stations  on  the  frontier  to  prevent  the  pestilence 
from  spreading. 

By  way  of  a  little  distraction,  Frederic,  who  loved 
amusing  himself,  betook  himself,  with  Queen  and  Court, 
to  the  New  Year's  Fair  at  Leipzig,  much  to  his  young 
Kammerherr's  delight. 

The  Leipzig  fairs  were  the  excuse  for  an  informal  and 
lively  outing  for  German  rulers  bored  with  the  stiff  and 
monotonous    ceremonial     they    imagined    themselves 


40  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

obliged  to  keep  up  at  their  Courts.  This  year  no  less 
than  forty-four  princes  and  princesses  of  ruling  houses, 
including  Augustus  the  Strong,  now  His  Majesty  of 
Poland,  and  his  Queen,  foregathered  at  the  great  com- 
mercial centre  of  southern  Germany.  The  two  Kings 
and  the  two  Queens  put  up  at  the  house  of  a  rich  mer- 
chant, named  Apel,  who  had  a  magnificent  garden 
outside  the  gates. 

By  w^hichever  way  you  entered  Leipzig,  "the  jewel 
of  Saxony,"  Pollnitz  found  its  situation  charming. 
The  town  itself  was  small,  and,  though  fortified,  of  no 
account  as  a  fortress,  though  the  citadel  was  garrisoned. 
But,  beyond  the  fine  new  stone  gates,  with  their  Roman 
military  columns,  lay  the  large  suburbs,  with  Apel's 
and  Pose's  gardens,  and  promenades,  "which,"  says 
Pollnitz,  with  the  artificial  taste  of  his  period,  "  though 
natural,  are  not  the  less  pleasing."  Those  in  the  valley 
of  the  Rous,  made  of  fourteen  alleys  with  a  fine  large 
lawn  in  the  middle,  each  alley  commandmg  a  different 
pretty  view,  were  more  to  his  liking.  The  merchant 
Pose's'garden  was  full  of  rare  plants  cultivated  with  the 
greatest  care. 

"  The  Leipzig  gardens,"  says  Pollnitz,  "  are  the  best 
in  Germany,  and  pride  themselves  on  forcing  nature. 
...  At  the  Easter  fair,  fruits  and  flowers  and  vegetables 
of  all  seasons  are  to  be  seen.  The  asparagus  is  delicious, 
and  extraordinarily  large.  Another  delicacy  in  Leipzig 
are  the  larks  ;  they  are  sent  all  over  Germany,  Poland, 
Holland,  and  Denmark.  I  have  been  told,  though  I  will 
not  vouch  for  the  truth,  that  the  toll  levied  on  larks 
coming  into  Leipzig  brings  in  12,000  crowns  [£3,000] 
a  year.  ...  In  no  country  in  the  world  are  so  many 
larks  caught.  From  Michaelmas  to  Martinmas  the 
country  is  covered  with  them.  Another  peculiarity  is 
the  quantity  of  nightingales  in  which  the  woods  round 
Leipzig  abound.  Many  are  caught  and  put  in  cages. 
The  girl  in  the  house  in  which  I  lodged  had  seven,  and 
I  saw  many  in  other  houses. 


THE  APPRENTICE  41 

"  The  streets  of  the  town  are  straight,  the  houses 
well  built  in  hewn  stone  but  too  overloaded  with 
carving,  five  or  six  stories  high,  the  ground-floors  consist- 
ing of  shops  in  which  the  foreign  merchants  display  the 
goods  they  bring  to  these  annual  fairs,  at  New  Year, 
Easter,  and  Michaelmas.  The  rents  are  very  high,  and 
it  is  difficult  to  get  lodgings  at  fair  times,  when  the  town 
is  so  crowded." 

Besides  its  fairs  Leipzig  is  celebrated  for  its  old 
university,  the  rival  of  Halle,  but  far  more  expensive ; 
and  Pollnitz  found  the  students  addicted  to  a  gay  life 
and  extravagance. 

When  spring  came  there  was  much  talk  of  rejoining 
the  armies,  in  Italy,  or  Flanders.  The  Prince  Royal 
left  his  young  wife,  expecting  her  second  child,  and 
went  off  with  Leopold  of  Anhalt-Dessau,  being  present 
at  glorious  but  bloody  Malplaquet,  which,  with  the 
capture  of  Mons  and  Tournay,  sent  a  thrill  through 
Berlin. 

"  I  wished  very  much  to  go  on  this  campaign,"  writes 
young  Charles,  envious  of  seeing  his  brother  and  his 
comrades  escape  from  the  tedium  of  court  life.  "  But 
when  I  asked  leave  to  start.  His  Majesty  refused  me, 
saying  that  he  had  other  views  for  me  than  the  taste 
for  war." 

Doubtless  the  old  King,  worried  with  his  gloomy 
spouse,  and  regretting  the  enjoyment  of  days  gone  by, 
was  reluctant  to  lose  the  company  of  his  amusing  young 
Gentleman  of  the  Chamber. 

"  I  was  flattered  by  his  reply,  as  I  was  young  and 
therefore  somewhat  given  to  vanity.  I  was  fool  enough 
for  a  few  days  to  think  myself  in  high  favour.  But  I 
soon  saw  good  reason  to  perceive  my  mistake.  This  is 
what  occurred  to  undeceive  me.  The  appointment  of 
Gentleman  of  the  Chamber  with  which  the  King  had 
honoured  me  entailed  my  riding  before  his  coach  each 
time  that  His   Majesty  went  out  or  that  he  went  into 


42  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

the  country.  I  was  for  some  time  so  unwell  that  it 
was  impossible  for  me  to  get  on  a  horse.  Ill-luck  would 
have  it  that  the  King,  going  from  Charlottenburg  to 
Berlin,  noticed  that  I  was  not  at  my  post.  This  set 
him  so  against  me  that,  when  I  advanced  to  receive  his 
hat  and  stick  on  his  arrival,  he  said  the  severest  things 
possible  to  me,  the  least  of  which  was  that,  if  I  neglected 
my  duty  a  second  time  he  would  deprive  me  of  the 
honour  of  serving  him.  Judge  how  humiliated  I  felt  at 
such  an  outburst  before  eight  or  ten  people  who  were 
in  the  King's  room.  Indeed,  I  had  some  difficulty  in 
stomacking  it,  and  at  first  thought  of  resigning  my 
appointment. 

"  I  spoke  to  Count  Witgenstein  about  it,  who  some- 
what smoothed  my  bad  temper ;  he  showed  me  that, 
in  behaving  as  my  impulse  prompted,  I  should  have 
to  resign  all  prospect  of  promotion  in  the  service  of 
my  sovereign — service  always  preferable  to  any  success 
one  might  find  under  a  foreign  prince.  He  promised 
to  reinstate  me  in  the  King's  good  graces,  and  he  kept 
his  word. 

"  For,  three  days  later,  the  King  having  returned 
from  Charlottenburg,  I  found  myself  alone  with  him  in 
his  room  with  the  chamberlain  on  duty.  His  Majesty 
did  me  the  honour  to  inquire  if  I  was  still  angry  ? 

"  I  replied  only  by  a  low  bow.  The  King  asked 
me  the  second  time  :  '  I  ask  if  you  are  still  angry  because 
I  scolded  you  a  few  days  ago  ?  ' 

"  I  replied,  with  all  possible  respect,  that  indeed  I  had 
felt  extremely  the  having  given  reason  to  His  Majesty 
to  be  displeased  with  me  ;  that  no  one  was  more  desirous 
to  serve  him  well,  and  if  I  have  been  unfortunate  enough 
lately  to  fail  in  my  duty,  it  was  in  consequence  of  a  very 
serious  indisposition. 

"  '  What !  '  said  the  King,  '  you  should  have  told  me  ! 
I  would  not  have  found  fault  with  you.  After  all,  if 
I  did  so  it  was  only  to  try  you.  I  was  not  really  as  angry 
as  I  seemed  to  be.' 

"  Jackal,  the  king's  jester,  who  was  present  at  this 


THE  APPRENTICE  43 

conversation,  took  up  the  parable  and  remarked  to  the 
King :  '  Good,  good  Sire,  the  illness  he  alleges  is  an 
illness  to  order  :  the  real  reason  is  that  he  has  no  riding- 
horses,  because  he  has  no  means  of  keeping  any.' 

"  '  Well,'  replied  the  King,  '  I  will  give  him  the  means. 
The  Grand  Chamberlain  shall  give  you  an  order  for 
forage,'  he  added,  addressing  himself  to  me ;  *  go  and 
find  him.' 

"  I  approached  to  kiss  the  King's  skirts,  but  he  drew 
back,  and,  as  I  bent  down,  he  put  his  hand  on  my  head, 
and  said  : 

"  '  You're  young.     Be  good,  and  I'll  see  after  you.' 

'*  A  few  days  later,  and  my  order  was  sent  me,  made 
out  for  me  to  send  to  Michlemhaft,  where  it  was  given 
out  to  the  other  courtiers  who  had  received  the  same 
favour." 

Towards  the  end  of  June  the  Court  was  enlivened 
by  two  royal  visitors.  King  Frederic  IV  of  Denmark, 
and  the  great  Augustus  of  Poland,  the  former  on  his  way 
home  from  sight-seeing  in  Italy,  via  Dresden.  They 
had  agreed  to  pay  His  Prussian  Majesty  a  visit,  and, 
that  there  might  be  no  difficulty  as  to  precedence,  they 
drew  lots  as  to  which  was  to  have  the  pas,  and  kept  to 
it  during  the  visit,  which  was  spent  partly  at  Potsdam 
in  the  beautiful  and  enlarged  Schloss,  and  partly  at 
Berlin.  A  very  gay  time  ensued,  not  unmixed  with 
serious  business,  for,  on  the  very  day  that  Charles  XII 
was  routed  at  Pultava,  the  three  Kings  signed  an 
alliance. 

At  this  time  a  daughter  was  born  to  the  Prince  Royal. 
The  Court  was  convulsed  with  delight.  Poets  celebrated 
the  little  princess's  birth  and  "  adulated  her  even  to 
idolatry ;  one  presented  verses  to  the  King  in  which  he 
compared  the  new-born  Princess  to  the  Child  Jesus, 
and  the  three  monarchs  who  were  present  at  her  baptism 
to  the  three  Magi." 

Charles  von  Pollnitz  was  doubtless  not  particularly 
interested  in  the  baby ;  but  in  years  to  come  he  was 


44  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

to  become  very  much  so,  in  the  Princess  Wilhelmina. 
Between  them  grew  up  a  real  friendship  founded  on 
mutual  tastes  in  art  and  literature,  and  the  Mar- 
gravine, however  caustic  she  might  be  about  others, 
always  wrote  kindly  to,  and  of,  her  "  old  Baron." 

There  was  a  great  scene  at  this  baptism,  a  dispute  as 
to  precedence  between  the  redoubtable  Countess  Warten- 
berg  and  the  wife  of  the  Dutch  envoy,  "  who  changed 
the  system  of  Europe. 

" .  .  .  In  all  court  ceremonies  Countess  Wartenberg 
was  wont  to  walk  first  after  the  Princesses  of  the  Blood 
ever  since  the  Duchess  of  Holstein-Beck  had  yielded 
her  the  fas  upon  payment,  by  the  King,  of  ten 
thousand  crowns.  Never  had  envoy's  wife  dreamed 
of  contesting  precedence  with  the  wife  of  the  Prune 
Minister. 

"  But  the  Dutchwoman  hid  behind  a  door-curtain 
as  the  procession  of  ladies,  headed  by  the  Margravine 
of  Schwedt,  carrying  the  infant,  left  the  Princess  Royal's 
apartments.  She  rushed  out  of  her  ambush  and  cut  off 
the  precedence  of  the  Countess  Wartenberg,  who  was 
following  the  Margravine." 

The  Countess  inheriting  the  physique  of  her  father, 
a  Rhine  boatman,  "  seized  the  interloper  by  her  dress 
and  stopped  her.  The  Dutchwoman,  less  powerful,  but 
more  agile,  finding  herself  unable  to  move  on,  adroitly 
began  to  make  a  remark,  sprang  forward  lightly,  and 
disarranged  the  Countess's  coiffure."  The  latter  did  not 
belie  her  origin,  but  "  retaliated  with  some  fisticuffs. 
The  scandal  would  have  gone  further  had  not  the  Grand 
Master  of  the  ceremonies  separated  the  combatants. 
The  honours  of  the  field,  however,  lay  with  the  Countess, 
who  carried  off  as  trophy  a  feather  from  her  enemy's 
headdress." 

Then  followed  mutual  recriminations  and  appeals  to 
the  Kings,  and  even  to  the  Dutch  States-General. 
Matters  even  went  so  far  that  Frederic  threatened  to 
withdraw  his  troops  from  Flanders  !  Finally,  the  States 
gave  way,  and  Lintlo  had  to  apologize  to  the  all-powerful 


THE  APPRENTICE  45 

Countess,  whose  arrogance  increased  considerably  after 
this  victory.     But  pride  was  soon  to  have  a  fall. 

Charles  von  Pollnitz,  however,  was  not  to  be  there 
to  see  the  ruin  of  those  who  had  wrecked  his  step- 
father's fortune.  He  himself  was  to  feel,  not  perhaps 
wholly  undeservedly,  the  fickleness  of  royal  favour.  He 
left  Court  in  consequence  of  "  some  very  hard  words 
which  the  King  said  to  me  one  day  when  I  had  failed 
to  appear  on  duty  as  Gentleman  of  the  Chamber."' 

What  brought  about  this  dereliction  was  Pollnitz's 
preference  for  the  society  of  the  Margrave  Philip  of 
Schwedt,  the  King's  step-brother,  w^ho  resided  chiefly  at 
his  fine  house  at  Schwedt  on  the  Oder.  His  wife,  a 
Princess  of  Anhalt-Dessau,  sister  to  the  great  captain 
"  and  that  fine  Louisa,  the  Great  Elector's  first  wife," 
daughter  of  a  Princess  of  Orange,  was  connected  with 
Pollnitz  through  the  latter's  grandmother.  Highest 
in  rank  at  Court  after  the  Queen,  the  Margravine  was 
a  charming  woman,  "  an  ornament  to  the  Court,"  he 
writes.  "  Nothing  could  exceed  her  graciousness  to 
strangers.  One  pays  one's  respects  to  her  quite  as 
much  from  inclination  as  from  duty." 

The  Margrave  was  the  eldest  surviving  son  of  the 
Great  Elector  by  his  second  wife.  "  Nothing,"  writes 
Charles,  "  could  equal  his  wisdom,  his  uprightness,  his 
sincerity,  and  the  purity  of  his  morals."  The  pair  were 
very  kind  and  hospitable  to  their  young  orphan  relative, 
and  Schwedt  was  a  kind  of  home  to  him  during  those 
years. 

"  I  was  with  the  Margrave  as  much  as  I  possibly 
could,  and,  indeed,  I  was  not  with  him  as  much  as  I 
should  have  wished,  for  I  do  not  think  there  ever  was 
a  prince  to  whom  one  could  pay  one's  court  with  more 
pleasure  and  freedom.  As  the  Margrave  was  nearly 
always  at  Schwedt,  it  happened  one  day  that,  being  on 
duty  with  the  King,  I  decided  to  remain  at  the  Mar- 
grave's Court,  instead  of  going  and  doing  my  duty; 
thus  it  occurred  that  whoever  was  in  waiting  was  obliged 


46  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

to  stay  on  some  time  longer.  The  King  having  inquired 
the  reason,  the  gentleman  replied  that  it  was  because 
of  me,  and  that  I  had  not  even  had  the  consideration  to 
warn  any  one  to  take  my  duty.  The  King,  who  was 
well  aware  that  I  missed  my  service  only  on  account  of 
my  attachment  to  the  Margrave,  his  brother,  asked  me, 
directly  I  entered  his  presence,  if  I  served  his  brother 
or  himself,  and  why  I  did  not  do  my  duty  better.  I 
was  so  bewildered  at  the  manner  in  which  the  King 
spoke  those  few  words  to  me  that,  in  truth,  I  do  not  know 
what  I  said  to  excuse  myself;  but,  whether  the  King 
thought  my  reasons  good  or  bad,  he  made  me  no  reply. 
I  was  so  put  out  by  this  honour  the  King  did  me  before 
several  people  that,  in  order  to  digest  my  resentment, 
I  determined  to  go  away  for  a  time. 

"  I  asked  His  Majesty  for  permission  to  travel ;  I  had 
no  difficulty  in  obtaining  it,  on  condition  that  I  did  not 
go  to  France,  with  which  country  the  King  was  at  war." 


PART   II 
THE  VAGRANT 

.  Un  nouvel  Oreste  poursuivi  par  le  Sort  dana  diff6rens  Pays  ?  " 

POLLNITZ. 


47 


SOPHIA,    ELECTRESS-DOWAGER    OF    HANOVER. 

From  the  Collectiou  of  A.  M.  Uroadley. 


48] 


CHAPTER   I 

Having  taken  leave  of  His  Majesty,  Pollnitz  went  to 
spend  a  few  days  with  his  friends  at  Schwedt,  where  he 
bade  what  was  to  be  a  last  farewell  to  the  Margrave. 
The  Margravine  suggested  to  him  to  set  out  on  his 
travels  by  paying  his  respects  to  the  Princesses,  her 
sisters,  at  Dessau.  Pollnitz,  always  exploiting  his 
Orange  connection  for  all  it  was  worth,  was  nothing  loth. 

"  Dessau  was  a  little  independent  principality,  about 
the  size  of  Huntingdonshire,  but  with  woods  instead 
of  bogs  ;  revenue  of  it  perhaps  not  £20,000,  or  even 
£10,000,  in  Leopold's  time.  It  lies  some  fourscore 
miles  from  Berlin,  attainable  by  post-horses  in  a  day. 
Leopold,  as  his  father  had  done,  stood  by  Prussia  as 
if  wholly  native  of  it.  Lying  in  such  neighbourhood, 
and  being  in  such  affinity  to  the  Prussian  House,  the 
Dessauers  may  be  said  to  have  had  in  later  times  their 
headquarters  at  Berlin.  The  Leopolds,  without  neglect- 
ing the  principality,  held  by  the  Prussian  army  as  their 
main  employment.  Not  neglecting  Dessau  either  ;  but 
going  thither  in  winter,  or  on  call  otherwise." 

The  young  Baron  found  the  princesses  at  Oranien- 
baum,  built  by  their  Orange  mother,  "  a  magnificent 
chateau,  worthy  of  the  princess  who  had  erected  it." 
He  stayed  there  a  week  or  so,  and  then  went  on  by 
Halle  to  Halberstadt  on  his  way  to  Hanover.  Pollnitz 
had  bethought  him  of  his  interest  at  the  Court  of  the 
Electress  Sophia,  through  his  cousin  Charlotte,  her 
favourite  lady-in-waiting. 

From  Halberstadt  to  Wolfenbiittel,  "  a  poor  town 
all  of  wood,  except  the  palace  and  a  fine  library ;  "  the 

1—4  49 


50  A  VAaABOND  COURTIER 

octogenarian  Duke  of  Brunswick  at  Salzdahl  three  miles 
off ;  Pollnitz  drove  down  the  league-long  avenue  to 
pay  his  respects.  He  was  received  with  special  gracious- 
ness,  and  kept  to  dinner,  finding  the  Duke  with  the 
clearness  and  vivacity  of  a  man  of  thirty — great  on 
Roman  History,  and  having  translated  Racine  and 
Corneille  and  French  novels,  and  with  a  good  taste  in 
architecture,  as  his  new  castle  of  Salzdahl  evinced, 
with  its  treasures  of  pictures  and  collections.  Duke 
Anthony  Ulric,  though  of  a  Lutheran  house,  had 
gone  over  to  Rome,  coveting,  scandal  said,  the  Bishopric 
of  Hildersheim — occasionally  held  by  laymen  ! — and 
that  of  Cologne,  vacant  by  ban.  Pollnitz,  however, 
maintains  that  his  conversion  was  the  fruit  of  years 
of  reflection.  May  it  have  been  that  their  intercourse 
sowed  in  the  young  Baron's  mind  the  first  seeds  of  his 
own  apostasy  ? 

It  was  Duke  Anthony's  granddaughter's  great 
marriage  which  led  finally  to  his  conversion.  When 
she  was  betrothed  to  the  Kaiser,  Charles  VI,  a  com- 
mission of  the  cleverest  theologians  in  Germany  arrived 
at  Wolfenbiittel  to  convert  the  timid  young  girl  to 
what,  writes  Pollnitz,  "  was  the  only  sure  salvation." 
To  encourage  her,  her  grandfather  promised  to  change 
his  religion  also ;  his  Prime  Minister  followed  suit.  The 
Duke,  though  Roman  Catholic  at  heart,  hesitated. 
Not  till  his  granddaughter  had  reached  Barcelona,  on 
her  way  to  Madrid,  did  her  persuasive  letter  finally 
determine  him.  "  He  showed  his  granddaughter," 
unctuously  writes  Pollnitz,  "  that,  in  obtaining  for  her 
one  of  the  first  crowns  in  the  world,  he  had,  at  the 
same  time,  laboured  to  secure  her  another  more 
valuable,  and  of  longer  duration." 

Pollnitz  went  on  to  Brunswick,  only  six  miles  along 
a  straight,  tree-planted  road,  to  the  old,  old  town,  added 
to  by  Henry  the  Fowler.  One  of  the  Hanseatic  cities, 
it  had  lost  its  liberty  but  some  thirty  years  previously, 
conquered  by  the  Duke  of  Wolfenbiittel.  There  was 
only  one  palace  to  see,  and  the  lofty  monument  opposite 


THE  VAGRANT  51 

to  the  church  of  S.  Alaise,  to  Duke  Henry,  surnamed 
the  Lion,  and  surmounted  by  the  statue  of  his  pet 
lion.  "  The  Duke  having  died  and  been  buried  in  the 
church,  the  lion  went  to  the  church  door,  and,  finding  it 
shut,  tried  with  all  his  might  to  get  in.  It  was  found 
impossible  to  remove  him,  and  finally  he  died  on  the 
same  spot  of  grief  at  having  lost  his  master,"  chronicles 
our  Baron. 

He  went  on  to  Zell  to  see  his  mother,  who  was  living 
in  retirement  on  her  third  husband's  estate  and  where 
his  connection.  Count  Schulemburg,  was  Governor  for 
King  George.  The  capital  of  the  little  duchy,  which 
had  passed  to  the  Elector  of  Hanover  by  his  marriage 
with  the  only  child  of  the  last  Duke,  was  the  most 
tolerant  of  towns,  "  where,"  writes  PoUnitz,  "  both 
Catholics  and  Protestants  compose  the  cathedral  chapter, 
and  use  the  same  fane."  Even  his  most  Protestant 
Majesty  of  Prussia,  when  he  came  on  a  visit  to  Zell,  both 
listened  to  a  sermon,  assisted  at  mass,  and  was  blessed 
by  the  Blessed  Sacrament." 

Society  at  Zell  was  pleasant,  and,  for  the  first  time, 
Charles  von  Pollnitz  found  himself  in  a  French  atmo- 
sphere not  uncongenial  to  him.  The  Provengal  Duchess, 
Eleonore  d'Olbreuse,  had  attracted  many  of  her  country- 
men to  her  Court,  and  there  were  both  French  Roman 
Catholic  and  French  Protestant  churches.  Indeed,  so 
French  was  the  society  that  Pollnitz  could  quite  believe 
an  anecdote  told  him  of  the  late  Duke's  reign.  Twelve 
guests  were  dining  at  the  palace,  when  one  remarked 
that  all  were  French  but  the  host :  "  Indeed,  Mon- 
seigneur,  this  is  rather  amusing  :  only  you  are  a  foreigner 
here  !  " 

A  few  miles  from  Zell  the  late  Duke's  heiress,  the 
daughter  of  the  popular  French  Duchess,  languished  in 
her  lonely  little  country-house  among  the  fens.  Im- 
prisoned by  her  ruthless  husband,  separated  from,  and 
unknown  to,  her  children,  plundered  by  her  servants, 
she  was  to  drag  out  for  another  ten  years  her  life-in- 
death,  to  die  a  shrieking  maniac,  to  be  refused,  first 


52  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

sepulchre,  and  then  Christian  burial  by  the  implacable 
George.  Such  was  the  shadow  which  hung  over  pleasant 
little  French  Zell. 

Pollnitz,  as  we  have  seen,  had  determined  to  seek 
the  help  of  his  father's  cousin,  Charlotte  von  Pollnitz,  at 
Hanover.  Taken  on  as  lady-in-waiting  by  the  Electress 
Sophia  after  the  death  of  the  Queen  of  Prussia,  Charlotte 
had  as  much  influence  with  the  mother  as  she  had  had 
with  the  daughter.  Her  cousin  hoped  she  might  secure 
him  an  appointment  at  Court. 

In  less  than  five  hours  he  drove  across  the  heath- 
land  from  Zell  and  found  Hanover  a  pleasant  town  upon 
the  Aller,  which  divided  it  into  two  quarters,  the  old 
and  the  new.  A  few  years  previously  the  Elector  had 
finished  his  country  palace  of  Herrenhausen,  "  not  in 
proportion,"  thought  Pollnitz,  "  to  the  magnificent 
gardens  which  surround  it,  undoubtedly  the  finest  in 
Europe.  There  is  a  fountain  to  be  seen  which  spurts 
higher  than  the  famous  fountain  at  S.  Cloud,  always 
considered  the  highest  in  the  world." 

Between  Herrenhausen  and  the  city  he  saw  the  two 
other  country-houses,  the  Fantasie  and  Monbrilliant, 
built  by  two  sisters-in-law  :  one  by  Frau  von  Kilnian- 
segg,  the  mistress  of  the  Elector,  and  the  other  by 
Countess  Platen  ("  the  ornament  of  Hanover,"  says 
Pollnitz),  who  had  occupied  the  same  position  with  his 
father.  She  was  the  jealous  enemy  who  contrived  the 
ruin  of  the  "  Duchess  of  Ahlden  "  and  the  murder  of 
her  lover.  Pollnitz  blinks  at  the  moral  failings  of 
these  "  two  ladies,  who  really  did  credit  to  Germany 
by  their  beauty,  their  manners,  and  their  characters."  (!) 

The  Hanoverian  family  consisted  of  the  Elector — his 
wife  shut  up  at  Ahlden,  and  Frau  von  Kilmansegg  in 
possession  of  him — his  son  George,  with  his  pretty,  clever 
young  wife,  Caroline  of  Anspach  (who  had  had  the 
moral  courage  to  decline  to  be  Empress  of  Germany,  as 
she  would  have  been  obliged  to  change  her  religion), 
who  w^as  spending  the  happiest  years  of  her  life  at  her 
father-in-law's  Court  with  her  little  girls  and  her   son 


THE   VAGRANT  53 

Frederic,  the  heir,  afterwards  Frederic,  Prince  of 
Wales. 

But  we  have  left  the  most  commanding  figure  of  the 
Court  of  Hanover  to  the  last.  The  Electress  Sophia 
was  heiress  presumptive  to  the  throne  of  England, 
through  her  Stuart  mother,  Elizabeth,  "  Queen  of 
Hearts,"  daughter  of  James  I,  and  wife  of  the  hapless 
''  Winter  King  "  of  Bohemia,  turned  adrift  on  Europe 
after  a  year's  reign,  while  his  Rhenish  patrimony  was  the 
battleground  of  the  religions  during  the  Thirty  Years 
War. 

The  Electress  was  eighty  years  of  age  when  Pollnitz 
first  went  to  Hanover,  "  but  she  did  not  feel  any  of  those 
infirmities  which  are  inseparable  from  great  age."'  She 
was  very  erect,  a  great  walker — at  seventy-four  she 
walked  for  two  hours  every  day — and  quoted  about 
herself  the  Dutch  proverb,  "  Creaking  wagons  go  on  for 
a  long  time."  "  She  had  kept,"  writes  Pollnitz,  "  a 
vivacity  of  mind  and  a  memory  which  was  really  pro- 
digious. She  spoke  French,  English,  Italian,  as  well  as 
her  native  language.  She  had,  moreover,  a  fine  intellect, 
which  she  had  cultivated  by  much  reading."  He 
hardly  does  justice  to  what  Spittler,  in  his  "  History  of 
Hanover,"  calls  her  "  fundamentally  Germanic,  superior 
to  princes'  enlightenment "  {Teuschgrundliche  uberfilrst- 
liclie  Aufkldrung). 

Sophia,  in  her  youth,  spoke  six  languages,  and  had 
read  and  studied  much  at  her  brother's  Court  at  Heidel- 
berg, where  she  found  refuge  after  the  wanderings  of 
her  stormy  childhood.  At  the  palace  of  Osnabriick, 
her  home  as  wife  of  the  heir  to  Hanover,  she  discoursed 
with  von  Helmont ;  in  her  son's  gardens  at  Herren- 
hausen  she  walked  and  talked  with  Leibnitz  the  philo- 
sopher. She  read  Spinoza,  Montaigne,  Clarendon's 
"History  of  England  "  (which  she  liked  because  "she 
knew  the  people  he  mentioned  "),  all  the  memoirs  and 
novels  of  the  period,  and  worthy  Bishop  Burnett, 
"  good  enough  to  skim  through,  but  not  to  read." 
Grote,  the  author  and  diplomatist,  was  her  friend.     To 


54  A  VAGABOND  COUETIEK 

visit  her  came  Marlborough,  "  the  easiest,  most  civil, 
most  obliging,''  and  Peter  the  Great,  who  talked  mathe- 
matics, while  "  she  held  her  tongue/' 

She  was,  however,  no  real  metaphysician  or  theologian. 
Her  philosophy  was  only  ethical.  A  Calvinist,  though 
her  husband  had  been  a  Lutheran,  she  communicated 
four  times  a  year,  hated  Koman  Catholics,  and  upheld 
her  daughter-in-law  for  refusing  Charles  VI.  Much 
attached  to  her  daughter,  the  Queen  of  Prussia,  after 
the  latter's  death  Caroline  somewhat  filled  the  gap. 
Her  niece,  the  Raugravine  Louise,  one  of  her  brother's 
many  children  by  Louise  von  Degenfeld,  lived  with  her, 
and  she  corresponded  voluminously  with  the  latter's 
half-sister  at  Versailles,  widow  of  Monsieur,  the  brother 
of  Louis  XIV.  With  her  son  she  had  no  influence ; 
he  probably  never  forgot  that  she  had  planned  his 
marriage  with  the  errant  Dorothea  of  Zell ;  but  her 
son-in-law  Frederic  of  Prussia — "  that  fool,"  she  called 
him — always  listened  eagerly  to  advice  from  his  astute 
"  most  gracious  mamma." 

The  acquaintance  of  this  clever  old  lady,  and  his 
intercourse  with  her,  must  have  been  an  education  in 
itself  to  the  eighteen-year-old,  nimble-witted  young 
Pollnitz,  eager  to  absorb  from  his  surroundings.  He 
appreciated  her  wit  and  intelligence,  her  versatility,  and, 
above  all,  the  keen  sense  of  humour  with  which  she 
sparkled.  Sophia,  on  the  other  hand,  liked  the  lad, 
finding  him  congenial.  After  her  husband's  death  she 
lived  entirely  at  Herrenhausen  at  the  Orangery.  We 
can  picture  Pollnitz  pacing  by  the  side  of  the  handsome 
old  lady  with  the  aquiline  nose  and  the  abundant  grey 
hair,  in  the  greenhouse,  the  largest  in  Europe,  or  along 
the  just-finished  Dutch  garden-paths,  among  the  summer- 
houses  and  grottoes,  between  the  clipped  hedges  sur- 
rounding the  out-door  theatre,  and  through  the  "  wilder- 
ness," listening  to  the  nightingales,  watching  the  swans 
and  ducks. 

Just  at  the  time  of  Pollnitz's  visit  Sophia  was  very 
busy  with^English  politics,  trimming  between  the  "  wigs  " 


THE  VAGRANT  55 

and  the  Tories.  Her  one  remaining  ambition — for  her 
wish  to  see  her  husband  live  to  be  Elector  had  been 
gratified — was  to  die  Queen  of  England.  She  missed 
it  by  a  few  weeks. 

The  young  Baron  enjoyed  himself  at  Hanover.  The 
Elector  was  naturally  hospitable,  "  and  during  the  stay 
I  made  at  Court  seemed  to  honour  me  with  his  special 
protection."'  Carnival  time  soon  came  on,  the  "  season  " 
at  the  German  Courts  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and 
which  lasted  from  Christmas  to  Easter,  and  Pollnitz 
describes  the  whirl  of  amusement. 

"  The  opening  was  the  second  day  of  January  by  a 
French  play,  after  which  there  were  cards  and  a  reception 
at  Madame  TElectrice  till  ten  at  night.  The  next  day 
was  the  '  ridotto,'  an  imitation  of  those  of  Venice  [in 
which  gayest  city  of  Europe  the  Elector  had  sojourned 
much]  that  is  to  say,  a  public  ball  where  every  one  can 
come,  provided  they  are  masked  and  unarmed.  The 
ball  was  held  in  the  Town  Hall ;  there  was  one  every  day 
during  the  Carnival.  One  played  at  ombre  and  at 
piquet  in  the  ridotto  room ;  in  another,  bassette  was 
played.  There  was  a  third,  in  which  a  contractor  pro- 
vided refreshments,  and  a  fourth  room  adjoined  where 
one  could  get  coffee,  chocolate,  and  liqueurs,  etc.  I 
went  in  greatly  for  all  the  amusements  of  the  Carnival ; 
I  was  of  an  age  when  pleasures  form  one's  principal 
business,  especially  if  one  had  money  enough  to  be 
beyond  the  reach  of  the  uneasiness \which  the  lack  of 
this  precious  metal  causes.  I  had  collected  a  goodly 
store,  with  which  I  cut  a  fine  enough  figure  ;  but  soon  I 
was  obliged  to  pull  in  my  horns,  and  that  in  consequence 
of  an  unfortunate  experience  of  which  I  was  the  victim. 
I  wished  to  tempt  Fortune  by  gambling.  At  first  I 
played  with  a  good  deal  of  luck,  but  the  chances  turned, 
and  I  soon  found  myself  personally  much  embarrassed, 
unable  either  to  continue  my  travels  or  to  turn  my  steps 
backwards,  and  still  less  to  remain  at  Hanover.  I  then 
did  what  most  young  men  usually  do  in  a  similar  plight ; 


56  A  VAGABOND   COUETIER 

that  is  to  say,  I  made  several  borrowings,  always  to  my 
disadvantage. 

"  At  last  I  was  obliged  to  confess  my  situation  to  my 
mother,  under  whose  guardianship  I  still  was.  I  had 
much  trouble  in  extracting  from  her  the  money  I  re- 
quired.'" 

Probably  Countess  von  Wense  was  not  uninfluenced 
by  the  reports  she  received  of  her  son  from  her  cousin. 
Charlotte  von  Pollnitz  was  in  possession  of  all  her  Dutch 
mother's  fortune  and  estates  as  the  last  survivor  of 
the  latter's  family.  Her  heirs  were  Maurice  and  Charles, 
but  the  masterful  lady  kept  a  firm  grip  on  her  money, 
and  had  no  notion  of  letting  any  of  it  fall  into  the  sieve- 
like hands  of  her  gambling  young  cousin. 

However,  he  wTote  to  his  mother  "  such  touching 
letters,  that  she  felt  she  was  still  a  mother,  and,  after 
having  kept  me  waiting  a  little  while,  she  was  kind 
enough  to  give  me  the  sums  I  had  need  of." 

"  This  little  upset  came  very  mal  a  profos.  Madame 
FElectrice  had  been  so  kind  as  to  ask  Madame  de  France 
for  a  passport,  that  I  might  get  leave  to  go  to  Paris ; 
but,  as  it  was  only  granted  for  two  months,  it  was  im- 
possible for  me  to  use  it,  having  been  obliged  to  spend  all 
the  time  in  setting  my  money  affairs  in  order." 

Pollnitz  had  not  been  many  weeks  at  Hanover  when 
he  heard  a  piece  of  news  from  Berlin,  imparted  direct 
by  the  King  to  his  "  most  gracious  mamma,"  which  must 
have  pleased  him  immensely,  to  wit,  the  downfall  of 
the  man  who  had  wrecked  the  family  fortunes. 

When  the  King  returned  from  a  visit  to  Augustus  at 
Dresden,  writes  Pollnitz,  he  found — 

''The  Queen  in  a  furious  state  of  displeasure  with 
Countess  Wartenberg,  who,  since  her  victory  over  the 
Dutch  ambassadress,  forgot  herself  more  than  ever 
with  the  Queen ;  so  far  that  the  Queen  one  day  ordered 
her  out  of  the  room,  and  never  to  re-enter  it. 


THE  VAGRANT  57 


(( ( 


Ha  !   we  shall  see  about  that !  '   was  the  reply. 
"  The  incensed  Queen  ordered  her  to  be  thrown  out 
of  window.    Happily  no  one  was  there,  so  that  she  had 
time  to  retire." 

After  that  she  had  another  skirmish  with  another 
diplomat's  wife.  The  King  began  to  have  enough  of  her 
airs  and  graces,  and  the  determined  enemy  of  the  Warten- 
bergs,  the  Prince  Royal,  was  working  ceaselessly  to 
undermine  them.  But  their  downfall  was  accomplished 
by  the  two  Kameckes,  one  Grand  Master  of  the  Ward- 
robe, and  the  other  his  clever  courtier-cousin  who 
wormed  himself  into  the  King's  favour  by  letting  him 
beat  him  at  chess,  and  got  himself  made  Minister  of 
State. 

The  Wartenbergs  were  arrested,  clapped  into  Spandau, 
and  then  exiled  to  their  estates.  They  had  come  to 
Court  with  nothing.  The  pair  left  it  with  millions, 
besides  a  pension  of  24,000  crowns  so  long  as  they 
lived  at  Frankfurt.  The  Countess  carried  off  50,000 
crowns'  worth  of  diamonds,  of  which  more  later  on. 
Wartenberg  made  a  present  of  his  little  gem  of  a  palace 
on  the  river-bank  to  the  King,  who,  however,  insisted 
on  paying  for  it,  and  the  Crown  Prince  gave  it  to  his 
wife,  who  called  it  Montbijou.  "  It  was  the  only  thing," 
writes  Pollnitz,  "  that  the  Wartenbergs  could  not  carry 
off. 

"  The  money  my  mother  had  had  the  kindness  to 
send  me  put  me  in  a  position  to  continue  my  travels." 
Just  at  that  moment  Joseph  I  died,  and  a  meeting  of 
the  Electors  was  called  for  August  at  Frankfurt  to  elect 
a  new  Emperor.  Pollnitz  was  seized  with  the  wish  to 
attend  the  great  ceremony.  Meanwhile,  as  Paris,  the 
Mecca  of  the  gilded  youth  of  the  period,  was  out  of  the 
bounds  of  possibility,  he  decided  to  make  a  tour  in  the 
Low  Countries,  where  The  Hague  was  then  a  great 
resort  of  pleasure-seekers. 


CHAPTER   II 

PoLLNiTZ  set  out  for  his  first  tour  outside  the  Empire 
by  way  of  Minden,  a  strong  fortress,  Herford,  Lipstadt, 
Horn,  and  struck  the  Rhine  at  Wesel,  "  one  of  the 
strongest  fortresses  in  Europe,  which  the  King  was 
still  strengthening."  Thence  by  boat  to  Nimeguen, 
and,  without  stopping  to  Utrecht  and  Ley  den.  This 
he  thought  the  finest  city  in  the  United  Provinces, 
with  its  long,  broad  streets,  "  extremely  clean," 
divided  by  canals,  a  valuable  library,  a  Hall  of 
Anatomy — 

"  Where  one  sees  freaks  of  all  descriptions.  .  ,  .  But, 
though  the  town  is  very  fine,  I  think  that  it  must  be  one 
of  the  dullest  places  to  live  in,  in  all  Holland  :  every- 
where there  reigns  a  certain  look  of  sickness,  which 
makes  one  melancholy.  It  is  not  that  the  townsfolk 
are  not  as  healthy  as  elsewhere  ;  but  their  custom  of 
always  being  in  their  dressing-gowns  and  walking  in  the 
streets  dressed  like  that  makes  one  take  them  for  con- 
valescents." 

He  went  on  the  twelve  miles  to  The  Hague,  equally 
pretty  either  by  road  or  by  canal,  between  fine  country- 
houses  and  beautiful  gardens  on  either  hand.  "  The 
Hague,"  he  writes,  "  one  may  well  call  the  finest  village 
in  Europe,  for  neither  walls  nor  ramparts  are  to  be  seen, 
and  it  is  of  the  pleasantest  spots  in  Holland.  A  stay 
there  is  delightful." 

The  young  Baron  spent  a  month  there,  enjoying  life 
exceedingly.  He  found  himself  among  kith  and  kin, 
the  three  branches  of  Nassau  cousins,  all  descended 

68 


THE  VAGRANT  59 

from  his  great-grandfather,  Maurice  of  Nassau,  and  his 
mistress,  Anne  of  Mechelin,  to  wit  the  Counts  Ovver- 
kerke,  Zeist,  and  Laleck.  Other  reigning  houses  had 
followed  the  example  of  Louis  XIV  and  legitimized 
their  bastards. 

Further,  there  was  much  affinity  between  the  Prussian 
and  the  Dutch  nobility,  and  the  young  Gentleman  of  the 
Chamber  to  King  Frederic  found  himself  welcomed 
in  society. 

"  In  this  town  the  inhabitants  are  well-mannered, 
more  sociable,  and  more  amenable  than  in  the  rest  of 
Holland.  The  aristocracy  is  looked  up  to,  and  merit 
does  not  count  for  naught.  The  ladies  look  well,  dress 
well,  and  have  something  better  than  mere  beauty  as 
an  attraction.  .  .  .  Most  gentlefolk  meet  every  evening 
alternately  at  each  other's  houses.  Their  assemblies 
would  be  more  brilliant  than  they  generally  are  if  they 
were  less  mixed ;  but  the  freedom  of  the  country,  the 
wealth  of  the  inhabitants,  place  the  townspeople  on  a 
level  with,  and  sometimes  even  above,  the  gentlefolk." 

He  thought  the  houses  plain  and  irregular,  except 
the  Stadtholder's  palace,  where  the  States-General  met, 
with  its  fine  halls  all  hung  with  flags  and  standards 
which  the  Kepublic  had  taken  from  its  enemies. 

"  But  there  are  no  houses  which  looked  like  a  man- 
sion. The  interiors  are  very  common,  and  not  very 
comfortable  ;  anterooms  are  unknown ;  the  servants 
spend  their  time  in  the  kitchen  or  in  the  hall. 
As  for  a  porter,  no  such  thing  is  seen  except  at  an 
ambassador's. 

"  There  are  many  Jews  at  The  Hague,  who  make  a 
great  show.  It  is  the  Portuguese  Jews  who  spend  the 
most  money  :  these  gentlemen  have  carriages  like  an 
ambassador's,  magnificent  houses  and  gardens,  and 
they  very  often  entertain  with  all  the  delicacies  and 
magnificence  possible.  They  are  received  everywhere, 
and  only  differ  from  Christians  because  they  have  more 


60  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEK 

wealth  and  spend  more  money.  I  knew  one  of  them, 
named  DuHz,  who  was  very  much  liked  ;  he  was  kind 
and  generous,  extremely  charitable,  assisting  every  one 
who  was  in  want  without  troubling  very  much  if  he 
was  a  Jew  or  a  Christian  who  shared  his  largesse.  I 
know  that  he  even  gave  money  to  keep  up  a  church,  as 
if  it  had  been  a  synagogue.'' 

Pollnitz  took  a  turn  from  The  Hague  to  Delft.  A  road 
paved  with  brick  and  bordered  by  elms  led  thither,  but 
he  chose  the  water-way,  the  usual  route,  and  to  him  a 
novelty,  taking  one  of  the  canal-boats  which  plied 
regularly.  He  visited  the  tomb  of  the  murdered  Great 
Stadtholder,  William  the  Silent,  saw  the  china-factory, 
and  slept  at  Rotterdam,  after  "  walking  about  the 
beautiful  quays  planted  with  fine  avenues,  and  bordered 
on  either  side  with  fine  houses."  He  saw  what  was  to 
be  seen  at  Dordrecht,  and  then  took  boat  again  from 
Rotterdam  to  Amsterdam,  "  the  most  famous  town 
in  all  Holland.  Its  size,  its  immense  trade  and  its 
wealth  are  the  admiration  of  all  visitors." 

His  King  being  expected  on  a  visit  to  The  Hague, 
Charles  carefully  arranged  to  be  back  again  there  before 
his  arrival.  The  Hague  was  in  the  eighteenth  century 
a  diplomatic  Clapham  Junction,  a  political  clearing- 
house. At  the  present  time  it  was  seething  with 
parleyings.  Louis  XIV,  weary  of  war  and  the  world, 
was  wishful  for  peace.  The  trend  of  feeling  in  Europe 
was  leading  up  to  the  Congress  of  Utrecht,  and  the 
object  of  Frederic's  visit  was  to  finally  adjust  with 
Prince  John  William  of  Nassau,  the  heir  of  William  of 
Orange,  the  long-disputed  heritage  of  that  sovereign. 

King  Frederic  came  by  Rotterdam,  saluted  by  guns, 
to  Delfshavn,  where  he  found  his  yacht  and  many 
others,  which  had  come  round  from  The  Hague.  In 
this  gaily-painted  vessel,  with  its  high  prow  and  great 
weather-board,  he  sailed  to  Delft,  where  coaches  were 
in  readiness.  At  The  Hague  he  drew  up  at  the  Palais 
de  la  Vieille  Cour,  bequeathed  to  him  by  William  III 


THE   VAGRANT  61 

of  England,  It  was  a  large  building  at  the  bottom  of 
a  courtyard  formed  by  two  projecting  wings,  fronted 
by  high  arcades  joined  by  balustrades  which  separated 
the  court  from  the  street.  Inside  there  were  fine 
rooms  with  good  pictures,  and  behind  a  large  garden, 
which  Frederic,  a  great  gardener,  had  much  improved. 

A  guard  was  mounted  at  the  palace,  and  the  next 
day,  the  King,  after  attending  a  sermon,  received  a 
deputation  from  the  States-General.  They  were  saluted 
by  the  guard,  and  at  the  foot  of  the  staircase  received 
by  the  Grand  Marshal  of  the  Household,  the  chamber- 
lains and  gentlemen  of  the  chamber.  Of  the  latter 
Pollnitz  was  one,  back  again  in  favour  and  on  duty, 
though  temporarily,  and  went  with  the  King  next  day 
to  Houstardyk,  another  house,  ten  leagues  out  of 
Amsterdam,  which  Frederic  had  inherited  from  William 
of  Orange. 

Here  the  King  awaited  the  Prince  of  Frisia,  the 
Stadtholder,  who  was  coming  to  meet  him  from  the 
army  in  Flanders.  Instead  of  the  Prince,  however, 
came  a  courier  with  the  overwhelming  news  that  John 
William  had  been  drowned  in  crossing  a  ford  at  Maerdijk, 
near  Dordrecht.     Pollnitz  gives  details  which  he  heard  : 

"  The  boat  had  capsized  by  a  sudden  furious  gust 
of  wind  when  only  thirty  or  forty  feet  from  land.  As 
the  sea  was  rough  and  the  Prince  could  not  swim,  he 
could  not  reach  land.  He  clung  for  a  while  to  the  mast, 
but  was  swept  away,  and  the  weight  of  his  clothes  and 
the  waves  caused  him  to  sink,  and  he  disappeared  at 
the  moment  that  a  boat  was  approaching  to  save  him. 
His  body  was  not  found  till  eight  days  later.  .  .  .  One 
cannot  express  the  regret  that  this  unexpected  death 
caused  in  Holland.     There  was  universal  mourning." 

The  kind-hearted  old  King  was  very  much  shocked 
by  the  news,  all  the  more  as  it  was  announced  to  him 
suddenly  by  a  too-zealous  courtier,  "  who  did  not  know 
his  high-mindedness,"  and  thought  that  he  might  not 


62  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

be  sorry  to  be  rid  of  a  Prince  with  whom  he  was  in 
Htigation.  He  was  so  upset  that  the  doctors  deemed 
it  advisable  to  bleed  him.  He  was  filled  with  remorse 
lest  the  wish  he  had  expressed  to  see  the  Prince  at  The 
Hague  might  not  have  caused  him  to  hurry  his  journey 
in  bad  weather,  and  at  once  sent  a  courier  to  condole 
with  the  widowed  Princess  who  was  left  with  one  child, 
a  daughter,  but  who  was  enceinte.  He  offered  a  division 
of  the  estates  in  dispute  between  himself  and  the 
Princess,  which,  however,  she  eventually  would  not 
accept.  Whereupon  the  King  put  off  all  settlements 
till  her  son,  who  was  born  in  September,  should  be  of 
age.  He  withdrew  to  the  country-seat  of  Dieren,  to 
which  he  considered  himself  entitled.  Pollnitz  went 
with  him,  "  having  had  the  honour  of  paying  his  respects 
to  him  scrupulously  all  the  time  that  His  Majesty 
passed  at  The  Hague.  At  Dieren  I  took  leave  of  the 
King,  little  thinking  that  it  was  to  be  for  ever." 

This  death  was  followed  by  another  which  also  was 
much  felt  by  Frederic.  It  was  that  of  Wartenberg. 
The  King  had  been  hankering  after  the  disgraced 
favourite  all  during  his  Dutch  tour,  and  had  written  to 
him  offering  him  his  recall  if  he  would  return  without 
his  impossible  wife.  "  But  Wartenberg,''  says  P5llnitz, 
"  declined  to  give  up  a  woman  who  was  dear  to  him,'' 
and  died  soon  afterwards.  By  his  own  wish  he  was  buried 
at  Berlin  in  the  Reformed  Church,  close  to  Henrietta 
Duhamel,  whose  sister-in-law.  Countess  Wense,  he 
had  so  injured.  King  Frederic,  who  had  been  very 
fond  of  him,  wept  when  he  saw  the  funeral  pass. 

Pollnitz  moved  on  towards  Frankfurt  and  Imperial 
ceremonies,  via  Dusseldrop,  where,  as  a  courtier  of  the 
King  of  Prussia,  he  was  well  received  by  the  Elector 
Palatine,  who  had  just  taken  up  his  residence  there. 
Whereas  former  Electors  had  preferred  to  live  at 
Heidelberg  or  Mannheim,  John  William  liked  Diissel- 
dorf  best,  where,  like  other  German  and  Italian  prince- 
lets  of  the  day,  he  had  built  himself  a  copy  of  Versailles. 
It  stood  in  a  charming  situation  five  leagues  from  the 


THE   VAGRANT  63 

city,  on  a  hill  in  a  forest  commanding  a  bird's-eye  view 
of  Cologne  and  the  Rhine  Valley.  It  was  erected  by 
Italian  workmen,  for  the  Elector's  wife  was  Italian ; 
but  the  rooms,  his  guest  found,  uncomfortably  arranged, 
as  in  Italy,  "  a  magnificent  house,  but  full  of  defects," 

Pollnitz  admired  the  large  collection  of  pictures,  which 
included  some  Rubens  and  other  Dutch  masters,  and 
especially  a  "  Last  Judgment "  of  Rubens  painted 
out  of  gratitude  for  Duke  Wolfgang  of  Neuburg,  the 
Elector's  ancestor,  who  had  extricated  the  artist  from 
the  clutches  of  the  Holy  Office  in  Spain. 

At  Diisseldorf  Pollnitz  spent  a  pleasant  time,  laying 
the  foundations  of  future  introductions  to  various 
Courts.  For  the  Elector  had  married  the  daughter  of 
Cosmo  III,  Duke  of  Tuscany,  and  one  of  his  sisters  the 
Emperor  Leopold  I,  and  another  Charles  II  of  Spain. 

Pollnitz  found  Frankfurt  one  of  the  largest  cities 
in  Europe,  but  full  of  anomalies.  To  begin  with,  it  was 
built  chiefly  of  wood,  stuccoed  over.  Hence  frequent 
conflagrations  occurred,  chiefly  owing  to  the  Jews. 
For  these,  who  constituted  a  large  proportion  of  the 
inhabitants,  were  locked  up  every  evening  in  their 
own  quarter  of  the  town,  packed  in  tall  houses,  and 
dared  not  open  their  gates  for  fear  of  being  robbed. 
So  it  was  impossible  to  render  them  any  assistance 
during  a  fire.  On  the  other  hand,  they  were  permitted 
to  have  fine  synagogues,  while  the  Roman  Catholics, 
who  possessed  all  the  churches,  sent  the  Reformed 
Protestants  across  the  river  to  Hanau  to  hold  their 
services  and  have  their  children  baptized. 

As  a  town  to  stay  in  Pollnitz  thought  "  that  there 
was  no  place  more  boring,  and  few  German  cities 
where  the  people  are  so  coarse.  The  bourgeois  have 
an  unsurpassed  affectation,  and  their  language  is  in- 
supportable." 

But  the  excitement  caused  by  the  Imperial  Election, 
the  great  concourse  of  electors,  ambassadors,  princes 
and  visitors,  was  quite  to  the  Baron's  mind.  The 
narrow   old   streets   were   full   of  grand  equipages   of 


64  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

divers  notabilities  of  many  nationalities,  Pollnitz  was 
pleased  to  find  that  Count  Dohna,  the  Prussian  envoy, 
outshone  all  the  others,  with  his  five  coaches  drawn 
by  six  horses  apiece,  his  forty  gentlemen,  his  seventy- 
two  pages,  forty-eight  valets,  and  two  beadles — which 
latter  item  strikes  one  as  rather  inadequate  compared 
with  the  rest.  There  was  such  rivalry  and  dispute 
between  Dohna  and  the  Prussian  Government  repre- 
sentative who  had  accompanied  him  that  the  latter 
died  of  chagrin  and  apoplexy  in  a  few  hours. 

All  the  Electors  were  present  except  those  of  Cologne 
and  Bavaria,  kept  away  by  the  war,  in  which  they 
had  sided  with  France,  and  protesting  fiercely,  but  in 
vain,  against  the  legality  of  the  election  in  their  absence. 
So  high  did  the  feeling  against  them  run  at  the  Council 
that  the  Bohemian  envoys  calmly  proposed  that  their 
chairs  should  be  broken  up  to  show  their  disgrace. 

The  Council  of  the  Electors  opened  on  August  25th. 
It  was  preceded  by  a  difficulty  with  the  Papal  Nuncio, 
who  arrogated  to  himself  the  first  place,  and  then 
declined  to  recognize  the  new  Protestant  Electors  of 
Prussia,  Hanover  and  Brunswick,  or  to  meet  any  of 
them.  Informal  conversations  took  place  in  a  garden. 
Finally,  alarmed  by  threats  that  the  Prussian  troops 
in  North  Italy  should  march  into  the  Papal  States,  he 
gave  way.  More  informal  discussions  till  October. 
Augustus  of  Poland  wanted  the  Imperial  crown  for  his 
son,  and  England  had  a  finger  in  the  pie  unofficially. 
Things  had  gone  so  badly  with  Archduke  Charles  in  Spain, 
and  the  expense  of  settling  him  on  that  throne  would 
be  so  great,  that  "  a  new  policy  had  been  adopted  by 
the  English  Minister :  they  were  treating  secretly 
with  France,  and  determined  to  recompense  Charles 
for  Spain  by  giving  him  the  Imperial  throne."  There- 
fore, "  it  was  unnecessary,"  adds  Pollnitz,  "  for  the 
Electors  to  sing  Veni  Creator,  etc.,  to  inspire  them  in 
their  choice.     They  had  resolved  to  elect  Charles." 

On  October  10th  all  foreigners,  except  those  in  the 
suites  of  the  Electors,  were  ordered  out  of  the  city 


5^-- 


MADAME,        ELIZABETH     CHARLOTTE,     DOWAGER-DUCHESS    OF    ORLEANS 

"II  est  bon,  puis  qu'on  voit  mon  visage  et  nies  yeux 
Que  Ton  apjirenue  aussi  quel  est  inon  caracl^re 
Quanil  il  s'asit  des  droits  de  inoii  ranf;  Klorieux 
J'ai  I'ame  delicate,  et  quelques  fois  alti^re 
Et  mon  cfeur  en  revanche  an  foible,  au  malheureux 
No  se  montre  jamais  que  tendre,  et  de  bonnaire." 


64] 


THE  VAGRANT  65 

before  sunset.  The  Papal  Nuncio,  obliged  to  retire, 
went  to  sulk  at  Aschaffenburg.  Next  day  all  the  church 
bells  rang  simultaneously  for  five  hours  !  The  garrison 
and  citizens  lined  the  streets.  All  the  Electors  and 
envoys  drove  in  pomp  and  state,  and  in  full  dress — 
except  the  Bohemians,  in  mourning  for  the  late  Kaiser 
— to  the  Romerhall.  There  they  changed  into  semi- 
ecclesiastical  ermine-lined  robes,  and,  with  the  envoys, 
rode,  all  in  due  precedence,  on  superbly  accoutred 
horses,  to  S.  Barthelmi,  and  heard  mass.  During  the 
Elevation  the  Protestant  Electors  retired  into  the 
Chapel  of  the  Conclave.  Then  there  was  a  solemn 
oath-taking  on  the  gospel  of  all  the  Electors,  and  a 
three-hours'  conference,  all  being  shut  up  in  the  chapel. 

They  then  returned  to  the  church  and  took  up  a 
position  on  a  scarlet-draped  stand  in  red  velvet  and 
gold  chairs.  When  the  loud  shouts  of  "  Long  live  the 
Kaiser ! ''  rang  through  the  church,  and  the  cannon 
thundered  on  the  ramparts,  and  the  soldiers  fired 
salvoes  in  the  streets,  it  was  Charles  they  were  acclaim- 
ing as  "  King  of  the  Romans  and  of  Spain." 

Directly  the  election  ceremonies  were  over  Pollnitz 
hurried  off  on  a  sad  errand.  Louisa  Katharine  von 
Wense's  chequered  life  had  come  to  an  end.  She 
was  but  in  early  middle  age,  and  her  youngest  and 
favourite  son  had  not  been  with  her  at  her  last  moments. 

Though  Charles  had  not  allowed  this  sad  event  to 
interfere  with  his  enjoyment  of  the  great  occasion — he 
never  allowed  anything,  at  any  time,  to  do  that — he  writes 
that  "  this  death  touched  me  very  much,  all  the  more 
as  it  was  the  first  thing  in  my  life  which  really  seriously 
grieved  me."  Into  the  lad's  egotistical,  self-centred, 
frivolous  existence  had  come  the  first  sorrow^ — a  sorrow 
probably  not  untinged  with  remorse  for  the  trouble  he 
had  but  recently  caused  his  mother  in  worrying  her  for 
money. 

Pollnitz  went  off  to  Zell,  where  his  brother  was,  and 
remained  there  some  time  winding  up  their  mother's 
estate.      But  when  he  heard  that  the  coronation  of  the 

1—5 


66  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

new  Emperor  was  fixed  for  Christmastide,  he  returned 
to  Frankfurt  by  way  of  Cassel. 

In  the  army  of  Flanders  he  had  soldiered  with  the 
Landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel — connected  by  marriage 
with  the  house  of  Brandenburg — and  his  two  sons.  So 
PoUnitz  was  made  welcome  in  the  old  palace  in  the 
pretty  town  on  the  Fulda,  surrounded  by  ramparts, 
with  its  orange-tree-clad  castle  terrace.  But,  if  the 
young  Baron's  visit  gave  pleasure,  it  also  gave  pain. 
He  was  the  bearer,  almost  straight  from  Holland,  of  the 
sad  details  of  the  tragedy  on  the  Maerdijk  which  had 
widowed  the  Landgrave's  daughter.  The  Hesse-Cassel 
family  circle  was  a  large  one,  often  meeting  at  the  Land- 
grave's Court,  "  making  it,"  says  Pollnitz,  "  one  of  the 
most  brilliant  in  Germany,  not  only  by  the  gi'and  style 
of  the  family,  but  still  more  by  their  pleasant  manners 
to  every  one,  especially  to  strangers.  I  left  Cassel  with 
regret." 

He  reached  Frankfurt  a  few  days  before  the  Emperor, 
and  describes  at  length  his  reception  and  the  elaborate 
ceremonies  of  the  coronation  at  S.  Barthelmi,  the 
Emperor  in  crimson  and  ermine  robes  like  the  Electors, 
and  with  the  diamond  cross  of  his  ancestors  and  the 
mantle  and  sword  of  Charlemagne. 

Certain  prophets,  tells  Pollnitz,  drew  portents  from 
certain  incidents  they  observed.  The  first  was  that  the 
Kaiser  made  his  entry  into  the  city  in  deep  mourning 
for  his  brother  Joseph.  They  foretold  that  it  was 
mourning  because  he  knew  that  he  should  be  the  last 
Emperor  of  his  house.  The  second  was  that,  as  Charles 
left  the  church,  arrayed  with  all  the  symbols  of  Empire, 
the  sword  of  Charlemagne  nearly  fell  out  of  its  sheath. 
The  Elector  of  Treves — of  the  house  of  Lorraine — 
caught  it,  and  replaced  it  before  it  had  quite  fallen. 
The  same  dealers  in  prophecy  foretold,  anent  this,  that 
the  Emperor  would  never  enjoy  peace,  but  would  always 
find  himself  obliged  to  draw  the  sword  in  his  own  defence. 

At  one  of  the  windows  of  the  Romerhall  stood 
Charles  VI,  and  gazed  on  the  throng  which  crowded  at 


THE  VAGEANT  67 

the  windows  and  which  overflowed  the  square.  Below 
Count  Pappenheim,  Viceroy  of  Saxony,  as  Grand 
Marshal  of  the  Empire,  played  his  part. 

"  Mounted  on  a  very  fine  horse,  he  galloped  into  a 
pile  of  corn  in  a  corner  of  the  square  ;  he  filled  a  silver 
measure  with  it,  returned  to  the  middle  of  the  square, 
and  threw  the  corn  and  the  measure  to  be  scrambled  for 
by  the  populace.  Then  appeared  the  Elector  Palatine, 
surrounded  by  his  guards  and  preceded  by  his  Court : 
he  rode  into  a  kitchen,  built  specially  in  the  great  square, 
found  there  an  ox  on  the  spit,  cut  it  into  bits,  and,  placing 
it  on  a  golden  dish,  carried  it  to  the  Emperor's  table. 
Comit  ZinzendorfE,  deputy  of  the  Elector  of  Hanover, 
Treasurer  of  the  Empire,  with  Imperial  Guards  rode 
round  the  square  throwing  special  gold  and  silver 
medals  from  sacks  of  cloth-of-gold,  hanging  from  his 
pommels.  Count  Dohna,  representing  the  Elector  of 
Brandenburg,  with  all  his  retinue  and  the  Imperial 
Guard,  rode  into  the  middle  of  the  square,  where  was  set 
on  a  table  a  basin  and  a  jug  of  silver-gilt  full  of  water 
and  a  wet  napkin,  which  he  took  to  the  banqueting- 
hall  and  gave  to  the  Emperor  to  wash  with.  Count 
Kinsky,  envoy  of  the  King  of  Bohemia,  cup-bearer  of 
the  Empire,  took  a  gold  goblet,  and,  fetching  wine  from 
a  fountain  in  the  shape  of  an  Imperial  eagle,  set  up  in 
the  middle  of  the  square,  gave  it  to  the  Emperor  to 
drink.'' 

Then  followed  the  ultra-ceremonious  banquet  in  the 
Romerhall. 

Pollnitz  was  on  the  point  of  leaving  Frankfurt  when 
he  received  the  sad  news  of  the  death  of  the  Margrave 
Philip  of  Schwedt.  He  says  that  King  Frederic's  envoy, 
to  avoid  the  expense  of  mourning-coaches  and  liveries, 
kept  back  the  news  of  the  death,  and  did  not  inform 
the  Emperor  till  the  day  before  he  left.  Pollnitz  himself 
"  felt  very  much  the  loss  I  have  sustained,  as  I  was 
attached  to  this  Prince,"  who,  indeed,  had  been  a  good 
friend  to  the  young  man. 


68  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

"  He  died  at  Schwedt,  where  he  usually  resided,  and 
was  all  the  more  regretted  as  none  was  worthier  of  a 
long  life.  He  was  always  sincerely  fond  of  the  King ; 
he  loved  his  country ;  and,  if  his  advice  had  been  followed, 
the  power  of  the  Ministers  would  have  been  curbed, 
and  the  people  been  happier." 

Death  has  now  removed  the  only  two  people  who  could 
check  the  young  man  in  his  headlong  plunge  into  the 
whirlpool  of  Paris  dissipation.  Directly  he  had  heard 
that  he  had  been  granted  a  passport  for  France,  he 
started  off  for  the  Mecca  of  his  desire.  He  halted  at 
Diisseldorf,  where  he  foimd  the  Court  returned  from 
the  coronation,  and  went  on  to  Cologne,  where  he  was 
welcomed  by  a  fellow-countryman,  one  Hoppe,  the 
king's  revenue  officer  for  those  parts.  "  He  put  me  up 
and  treated  me  very  well.''  But  Pollnitz  was  in  a  fever 
to  reach  Paris.  Cologne  did  not  appeal  to  him  from  the 
first.    He  was  annoyed  by  the  custom-house  authorities. 

"  A  few  companies  of  inferior  soldiers  on  guard  at 
the  gates,  and  at  the  Town  Hall,  insolently  search  the 
trunks  of  new  arrivals.  This  is  indeed  the  greatest 
inconvenience,  for,  only  two  hundred  yards  from  the 
inn  one  has  to  unfasten  one's  trunks,  which  they 
rummage,  putting  one's  things  topsy  turvy.  One  is 
obliged  to  put  everything  right  again,  and  then  those 
who  have  caused  the  confusion  have  the  impertinence 
to  ask  you  for  a  drink.  In  other  towns  a  clerk  accom- 
panies you  to  the  inn  where  you  are  going  to  stay,  and 
you  show  him  what  you  have.  But  the  Imperial  cities 
always  wish  to  do  everything  in  a  peculiar  way." 

The  young  Baron  found  Cologne  the  dullest  city  in 
Europe — 

*'  Dirty,  and  badly  paved.  .  .  .  One  hears  nothing  but 
the  sound  of  church  bells,  one  sees  no  one  but  priests, 
monks,  and  students,   many  of  whom  earn  alms  by 


THE  VAGRANT  69 

singing.  .  .  /'  The  cathedral  "  would  be  the  largest 
and  finest  edifice  in  Europe,  were  it  finished,  but  the 
state  of  it  does  little  credit  to  its  chapter,  the  most 
illustrious  in  Germany,  all  the  canons  being  Princes  or 
Counts  of  the  Empire,  and  proving  sixteen  quarterings/^ 

As  for  the  famous  relics  of  the  Three  Kings,  Pollnitz 
thought  "  the  devotion  of  the  inhabitants  for  them  so 
extraordinary  that  it  would  not  be  well  to  doubt  their 
authenticity  when  in  company  of  a  gathering  of  the 
citizens."  The  only  society  was  that  of  the  canons, 
keeping  their  residence.  "  The  people  were  coarse. 
There  are  rich  merchants  who  feed  well  and  drink  better. 
Perhaps  they  also  amuse  themselves.  I  did  not  try  if 
they  did  ;  you  know  our  German  pride  does  not  allow 
of  our  humbling  ourselves  down  to  them.'' 

At  Cologne  Pollnitz  received  his  passport,  and  lost 
no  time  in  starting.  But  the  war  in  Flanders  obliged 
him  to  reach  France  by  a  roundabout  route.  He  took 
boat  by  the  Rhine  to  Dordrecht,  thence  by  canal  to 
Antwerp,  "  the  finest  city  in  the  Netherlands,''  the 
cathedral  a  "treasure-house  of  pictures,"  mostly  to  be 
destroyed  by  fire  a  few  years  later. 

Thence  to  Brussels,  "  the  capital  of  Brabant,"  the 
people  more  civil  than  in  any  other  city  in  the  Low 
Countries  ;  people  of  quality  coming  in  from  the  country 
to  winter  at  their  "  hotels."  The  Palais  Royal  very 
large,  on  a  hill,  with  a  fine  view  over  the  Park  and 
gardens  ;  the  Hotel  de  Ville  very  fine.     But — 

*'  All  the  houses  old,  except  that,  and  the  churches,  not 
a  building  worth  speaking  about.  A  great  discomfort 
the  inequality  of  the  ground ;  one  is  always  obliged  to 
be  going  up  or  down  hill  .  .  .  one  might  indeed  call  it 
the  Monte  Cavallo ;  also  the  city  uncomfortable,  so  few 
police  about ;  one  is  always  either  in  the  mud,  or  stifled 
in  the  dust." 

At  Valenciennes  Pollnitz  found  himself  at  last  upon. 


70  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

Frencli  soil.  For  it  was  the  capital  of  Hainault,  French 
Flanders.  Here  he  made  his  first  acquaintance  with 
French  officers,  his  late  foes.  "  The  Prince  de  Tingri 
was  governor,  son  of  the  celebrated  Marechal  de  Luxem- 
burg, whose  glory  our  writers  have  tried  to  tarnish  by 
accusing  him  of  having  won  so  many  victories  by  being 
in  league  with  the  devil."  The  Prince  de  Tingri,  as 
Chevalier  de  Luxemburg,  had  greatly  distinguished 
himself  during  the  late  war,  especially  at  the  siege  of 
Lille,  at  which  Pollnitz  had  assisted. 

"  He  got  a  convoy  into  the  town  during  the  night, 
which  helped  much  to  make  the  siege  drag  on.  Every 
officer  considers  him  the  most  distinguished  general  in 
France.  ...  I  cannot  help  relating  his  politeness  and 
gracious  manners,  and  I  have  great  reason  to  congratu- 
late myself  on  the  kindness  he  showed  me." 

Tingri  presented  the  young  Baron  to  the  Archbishop 
Elector  of  Cologne,  who,  having  taken  sides  with  France, 
had  been  forced  to  find  a  refuge  in  French  dominions. 
"  His  Highness  gave  me  a  most  gracious  welcome.  He 
remembered  knowing  my  father,"  who  had  been 
quartered  near  Cologne  at  the  time  of  Charles's  birth. 
*'  I  saw  in  course  of  conversation  that  he  would  much 
rather  have  been  in  his  city  of  Bonn  than  in  a  French 
fortress." 

Three  days  did  Pollnitz  stay  with  the  Archbishop, 
then  went  on  by  Courtray,  S.  Quentin,  and  Compiegne, 
through  royal  forests,  to  S.  Denis.  As  he  drove  out  of 
the  little  town  under  the  shadow  of  the  great  abbey, 
Pollnitz  "  at  last  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  what  I  had 
so  long  passionately  desired,  the  famous  city  of  Paris." 


CHAPTER   III 

*'  Ce  pays  est  mon  centre !  "  wrote  PSllnitz,  after  years 
of  Paris. 

Ardently  had  he  longed  to  reach  it,  eagerly  had  he 
yearned  for  its  brilliancy,  its  pleasures.  Paris,  for 
nearly  half  a  century,  had  been  the  centre  of  the  solar 
system  over  which  the  Roi  Soleil  shone. 

No  such  worship  as  was  paid  to  Louis  le  Grand  has 
ever  been  accorded  to  monarch,  before  or  since.  To 
penetrate  even  into  the  outer  courts  of  his  temple  was 
an  ambition,  a  delirious  dream  of  bliss.  Louis,  as  far 
as  he  possibly  could,  had  centralized  everything.  France 
was  Paris  ;   Paris  was  the  King. 

Great  aristocrats  of  ancient  race,  of  vast  estates, 
owning  thousands  of  serfs,  men  whose  grandfathers  had 
ruled  almost  as  sovereigns  on  their  domains,  ate  their 
hearts  out  when  exiled  to  them  away  from  Court.  To 
haunt  the  halls  of  Versailles,  to  hold  a  ewer  or  a  napkin 
for  the  King,  was  the  giddy  height  of  their  ambition. 
There  were  no  longer  any  nobles,  only  courtiers.  Court 
was  the  only  way  to  royal  favour,  to  advancement. 
Assiduity  or  talent  in  camp,  study,  or  bureau  was  of 
little  avail  compared  with  the  attendance  in  the  mon- 
arch's ante-chamber.  "I  do  not  see  him  often  at 
Court,''  was  Louis's  cold  rejoinder  to  the  advocacy  of 
an  applicant  for  office. 

Our  young  Baron  was  heart  and  soul  a  courtier, 
"  never  happy  away  from  Court,  and  yet  never  happy 
in  it."  He  had  already  had  a  foretaste  of  Versailles  in 
Courts  where  the  rulers  aped  it.  Now,  at  last,  he  found 
himself  in  the  Holy  of  Holies. 

He  did  not  linger  long  in  Paris  itself — 

71 


72  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

"  The  first  city  in  the  world,  as  it  is  the  capital  of  the 
first  realm  in  Christendom.  ...  I  was  too  anxious  to 
see  the  celebrated  chateau  of  Versailles.  I  had  conceived 
such  a  great  idea  of  this  chateau ;  I  was  so  convinced 
that  everything  there  must  be  in  gold  and  azure." 

He  drove  up  by  the  magnificent  broad  avenue,  and 
between  the  stables,  and  "  saw  a  sight  which  gave  some 
idea  of  the  master  of  these  sumptuous  buildings."  But 
the  interior  astonished  him  most,  "...  many  chateaux 
joined  together."  The  whole  Royal  Family,  still,  in 
that  year,  fairly  numerous,  was  comfortably  lodged 
with  guard-rooms,  anterooms,  apartments,  bedrooms, 
studies,  dressing-rooms.  Also  comfortably  lodged  were 
their  head  officials,  the  Princesses'  ladies  ;  the  majority 
of  the  nobles  of  the  Court  had  their  apartments  there 
also,  cramped,  indeed,  but  comfortable.  "  Indeed,  I 
was  assured  that,  when  Louis  XIV  was  at  Versailles, 
some  twenty  thousand  persons  slept  each  night  in  the 
chateau,  and  in  the  outbuildings.  The  apartments  so 
well  arranged  that  all  this  army  was  not  uncomfortable." 
PoUnitz  had  not  thrown  away  his  time  at  Hanover  by 
ingratiating  himself  with  the  clever  old  Electress. 
Through  her  he  had  been  specially  recommended  to  her 
niece,  Madame,  of  France,  widow  of  Monsieur,  Louis's 
only  brother,  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 

Forty  years  before  Charlotte  Elizabeth,  daughter  of 
Charles,  Elector  Palatine,  a  plain,  plump  German 
Mddchen,  something  of  a  tomboy,  and  dubbed  Liselotte 
by  her  family,  had  come  across  the  Rhine  to  marry  the 
French  Prince  she  had  never  seen,  and  who  was  not 
unsuspected  of  being  cognizant  that  his  first  wife, 
Henrietta  of  England's,  recent  death  was  due  to  poison. 
She  had  been  the  baby  born  at  Exeter  during  the  stress 
of  the  civil  war,  carried  off  by  a  disguised  lady-in-waiting 
to  France,  and  whom  her  father,  Charles  I,  never  saw. 

A  faithful,  loyal  spouse  to  a  very  faithless  husband,  the 
shrewd,  common-sense,  rather  downright  and  caustic, wife 
of  a  foolish  fop,  Charlotte  Elizabeth  had  also,  till  the 


THE  VAGRANT  73 

advent  of  Madame  de  Maintenon,  enjoyed  both  the 
friendship  of  her  brother-in-law — "  notre  grand  homme/^ 
she  calls  him — and  had  a  certain  amount  of  influence  over 
him.  Both  loved  dogs  and  horses  and  hunting,  and 
Liselotte  was  never  so  happy  in  her  younger  days  as  when 
following  the  royal  chase  in  the  forests  of  Fontainebleau. 
But  Louis  did  not  consider  her  feelings  when  he  carried 
fire  and  sword  into  her  Palatinate,  driving  her  brother 
from  his  capital. 

She  was  a  strange  mixture,  as  she  had  painted  herself 
in  her  innumerable  letters,  of  irreproachable  morals  in 
a  vicious  atmosphere,  and  of  a  startling  lack  of  decorum 
and  modesty.  The  Due  de  Saint-Simon,  her  son's 
intimate  friend,  calls  her — 

"  Much  more  of  a  man  than  a  woman.  She  was 
very  brave,  German  to  her  finger-tips,  frank,  straight- 
forward, kind,  benevolent,  noble,  and  well-bred  in  her 
manners ;  minute  to  the  last  degree  as  to  what  was 
due  to  her  position.  Unsociable,  always  shut  up 
writing  letters,  hard,  blunt,  easily  taking  aversions — 
withal  capable  of  loving  and  inviolable  friendship  .  .  . 
would  have  made  a  perfect  '  gentleman.'  " 

She  received  young  Pollnitz  most  graciously,  and 
for  two  reasons.  The  first,  that  he  was  recommended 
by  the  Electress,  her  aunt,  to  whom  she  was  deeply 
attached  all  her  life  long,  though  they  never  met  after 
her  marriage.  The  second,  that  he  was  a  German — 
"Mein  Landsmann,"  was  always  her  name  for  him. 
Forty  years  of  exile  had  not  cooled  her  love  for  her 
country.  "  Her  honest  heart,''  says  Thackeray,  "  was 
always  with  her  friends  and  dear  old  Deutschland, 
though  her  fat  little  body  was  confined  at  Paris,  Marly, 
and  Versailles." 

"  Allemande  et  peu  Frangaise,"  her  brother-in-law 
said  of  her,  bearing  her  no  grudge  for  it.  She  was  "  greatly 
pleased  at  being  told  I  have  a  German  heart  and  that 
I  love  my  country.    My  heart  is  still  German.    I  cannot 


U  A  VAGABOND  COUBTIER 

console  myself  for  what  has  happened  in  the  Palatinate. 
.  .  .  Germany  is  always  dear  to  me,  and  I  am  little 
suited  to  France." 

When  Pollnitz  was  presented  she  was  delighted  to 
see  the  young  fellow's  German  face,  and  to  hear  her 
native  tongue  once  more.  "  This  Princess,''  he  said, 
"  who  had  always  retained  a  special  liking  for  Germans, 
received  me  with  more  kindness  than  she  generally 
showed  to  those  of  that  nation" — which  speaks  for 
Pollnitz's  personal  attraction,  as  well  as  for  his  modesty. 

"  Certainly  young  Polnitz  (sic)  is  in  Paris,"  she  wrote, 
soon  after  his  arrival,  to  the  Duchess  of  Hanover — 

"  And  he  often  comes  to  see  me.  I  have  already 
written  to  you  how  well-bred  I  think  him,  for  all  the 
other  young  men,  when  they  have  answered  one,  stand 
there  motionless,  make  one  a  deep  bow,  and  do  not 
say  anything  more;  but  with  him  it  is  different.  It 
does  one  good  to  talk  to  him ;  he  talks  as  much  as  one 
likes,  and  he  talks  well.  I  have  not  yet  heard  him 
play  the  braggart." 

Pollnitz  found  her  "  very  affable,"  though  "  not 
easily  patronizing  people."  She  appointed  him  her 
Chamberlain,  liked  to  see  him  about  her  daily,  welcoming 
him  with  a  "  Guten  Morgen,  mein  Landsmann,"  inquiring 
after  him  if  he  did  not  appear,  and  always  speaking 
German  with  him.  For,  as  she  writes  in  one  of  her 
innumerable  letters,  written  in  German,  that  she  was 
"  afraid  German,  in  time,  will  leave  off  being  a  language 
at  all,  through  being  corrupted  by  foreign  idioms  ...  a 
silly  habit  people  here  have  adopted,  as  if  one  could 
not  express  everything  in  German.  Your  trick  of 
putting  French  words  in  your  letters  shocks  me 
greatly." 

When  the  young  Baron  entered  her  service  Madame 
was  nearly  sixty,  and  "  fat  and  round  as  a  globe  and 
with  a  nose  of  the  fashion  of  a  zenith,"  says  Visconti, 
and  had  been  ten  years  a  widow.    *'  Pas  de  convent !  " 


THE  VAGRANT  75 

she  had  exclaimed  vehemently  when  her  husband  died, 
and  had  stayed  on  at  the  French  Court,  partly  because 
she  had  no  other  home  to  turn  to,  and  partly  because 
she  was  too  poor  to  move.  Times  had  changed,  and 
life  had  not  gone  well  with  her.  She  had  lived  to  see 
Madame  de  Maintenon  all  in  all  to  Louis — Madame  de 
Maintenon,  who  had  started  as  governess  to  the  Due 
de  Maine,  the  King's  son  by  the  Montespan ;  Madame 
de  Maintenon,  the  "  old  toad,"  "  the  old  beast,''  who 
had  been  instrumental  in  arranging  the  marriage  of 
Maine's  sister  to  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  her  son.  Madame 
never  forgot  nor  forgave  this  "  eternal  shame,"  and 
boxed  her  son's  ears  before  all  the  Court  when  he  an- 
nounced his  betrothal  to  her. 

As  time  went  on  she  withdrew  more  and  more  into 
herself  and  her  eternal  letter-writing,  becoming  hlase 
and  grumbling,  both  in  speech  and  in  pen.  Brought 
up  a  Lutheran,  compulsorily  converted  officially  to 
Roman  Catholicism  as  the  condition  of  a  splendid 
marriage,  she  had  passed  through  every  phase  of 
religious  thought.  In  correspondence  with  Leibnitz 
she  dabbled  in  free-thinking,  glad  that  he  should  give 
her  "  the  great  consolation  to  know  that  animals  do 
not  perish,  on  account  of  my  dear  little  dogs."  She 
went  officially  to  mass  every  Sunday  morning,  to  the 
play  in  the  evening.  Tolerant  like  her  father,  she  had 
friends  of  all  persuasions.  In  her  old  age  she  veered 
back  to  the  faith  of  her  childhood  and  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism,  was  delighted  to  hear  a  workman,  painting 
the  house,  singing  Marot's  psalms,  and,  despite  the 
revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes  and  the  Unigenitus 
"  never  missed  reading  my  Lutheran  Bible  every  day." 

"  She  loved  talking,"  writes  Pollnitz,  "  and  talked 
well.  Specially  did  she  like  speaking  her  native  tongue, 
which  nearly  fifty  years  in  France  did  not  make  her 
forget ;  and  which  was  the  reason  why  she  was  de- 
lighted to  see  gentlemen  of  her  own  nation,  and  to 
keep  up  a  correspondence  with  them." 


76  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

Letter-writing  was  now  the  great  occupation  and 
resource  of  a  rather  narrowed  and  embittered  life.  For 
years  she  had  written  every  day  of  the  week  to  a  different 
Court  in  Europe — to  her  aunt,  at  Hanover,  to  her 
daughters,  the  Duchess  of  Savoy,  the  Queen  of  Spain, 
and  the  Duchess  of  Lorraine  ;  and,  after  her  aunt's 
death,  to  her  cousin  the  Raugravine  Louisa. 

"  And  it  was  not  little  letters  that  she  generally 
wrote,"  remarks  her  young  chamberlain ;  "  she  filled 
quite  twenty  to  thirty  sheets  of  paper.  I  have  seen 
several  which  deserved  to  be  made  public,  and  I  have 
never  seen  anything  so  well  written  in  German.  And, 
indeed,  this  Princess  did  nothing  but  write  from  morning 
to  night.  First,  after  her  levee,  which  was  about  ten 
o'clock,  she  began  her  toilette ;  after  that  she  went 
into  her  study,  when,  after  having  spent  some  time 
at  prayers,  after  a  while  she  sat  down  to  write  till  it 
was  time  for  her  mass.  After  mass  she  wrote  till 
dinner,  which  did  not  last  long.  Madame  returned 
afterwards  to  write,  and  went  on  like  that  till  ten 
o'clock  at  night.  About  nine  o'clock  one  presented 
oneself  in  her  study.  One  found  the  Princess  seated 
at  a  large  table  and  surrounded  by  papers  ;  there  was 
a  card-table  for  the  household  near  hers,  where  her 
ladies  played.  From  time  to  time  Madame  watched 
the  play ;  sometimes  she  gave  advice  as  she  wrote  ; 
at  others  she  conversed  with  those  who  were  paying 
their  respects  to  her.  I  once  saw  the  Princess  fall 
asleep,  and,  a  moment  after,  wake  up  with  a  start 
and  go  on  writing.  This  was  the  ordinary  life  of 
Madame  when  she  was  at  Versailles.  Sometimes  she 
accompanied  the  King  out  hunting,  dressed  en  amazoney 
or  else  she  went  to  the  opera.  This  Princess  loved 
plays,  and  when,  after  the  death  of  Louis  XIV,  the 
Court  came  to  Paris,  she  often  had  French  or  Italian 
actors  on  the  stage  at  the  Palais  Royal.  As  for  rank, 
no  Princess  maintained  it  better  than  Madame.  She 
was  extremely  punctilious  as  to  what  was  due  to  her, 


THE  VAGRANT  77 

and  on  her  side  gave  every  one  the  honours  which 
belonged  to  them." 

Her  own  description  to  her  cousin,  the  Raugravine, 
throws  a  side-light  on  Pollnitz's  official  life  as  her 
Chamberlain,  in  constant  attendance. 

"  You  seem  to  think/'  writes  Madame,  from  Fon- 
tainebleau,  "  that  I  spend  my  life  in  amusements  and 
gaieties.  To  cure  you  of  this  idea  I  will  describe  my 
life  to  you.  I  rise  generally  at  nine  o'clock.  Then  I 
say  my  prayers  and  read  three  chapters  of  the  Bible, 
one  of  the  Old  Testament,  one  of  the  New,  and  a  psalm. 
After  this  I  dress  and  receive  those  who  wish  to  see 
me.  At  eleven  I  enter  my  study,  where  I  write  or 
read.  At  noon  I  go  to  chapel,  lunching  quite  alone, 
for  I  think  nothing  can  be  worse  than  being  by  oneself 
at  table  watched  by  a  dozen  servants,  who  stare  all 
the  time,  and,  although  I  have  been  here  forty-three 
years,  I  have  not  yet  become  used  to  this  country's 
detestable  cooking.  After  lunch  I  generally  begin 
writing,  and  continue  till  the  King's  supper  ;  some- 
times my  ladies  come  and  play  a  game  of  cards  with 
me.  Madame  d'Orleans,  the  Duchesse  de  Berri,  and 
sometimes  my  son,  come  to  see  me  from  nine  to  ten. 
At  a  quarter  to  eleven  we  go  to  table  to  await  the  King, 
who  sometimes  delays  coming  till  half-past  eleven. 
During  supper  no  one  says  a  word  ;  afterwards  we 
pass  into  the  King's  study,  where  we  stay  for  as  long 
as  it  would  take  one  to  say  '  Our  Father.'  Then  the 
King  bows  and  goes  to  his  apartment,  where  we  follow 
him  ;  then  the  King  talks  to  us ;  at  half -past  twelve 
he  bids  us  good-night,  and  each  returns  to  his  or  her 
chamber.  I  go  to  bed,  the  Duchesse  begins  playing 
cards,  and  sometimes  they  sit  playing  in  her  apartments 
till  the  next  morning.  When  the  theatre  is  open  I 
go  there  from  seven  till  supper.  The  hunts  always 
start  at  one  o'clock.  If  I  go  [she  now  followed  in  a 
coach],  I  get  up  at  eight  and  go  to  chapel  at  eleven/' 


78  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

A  short  time  after  his  appointment,  writes  our 
Baron — 

"  Madame  did  me  the  honour  to  present  me  to  the 
King  one  evening  after  supper.  ...  I  will  not  describe 
the  august  head  of  this  illustrious  family/'  he  con- 
tinues, with  bated  breath.  "  A  pen  more  adept  than 
mine  would  be  necessary  to  treat  with  suitable  dignity 
such  a  lofty  subject.  All  I  can  have  the  honour  of 
telling  you  of  Louis  XIV  is  that,  if  the  crown  of  France 
went  to  the  possessor  of  a  fine  presence,  this  great 
Prince  would  have  deserved  it  as  much  on  that  score 
as  by  that  of  his  birth.  He  was  already  advanced  in 
age  when  I  had  the  honour  of  seeing  him  in  1712,  and 
yet  he  still  had  more  dignity  and  a  more  distinguished 
air  than  any  man  in  the  kingdom." 

The  presentation  took  place  in  the  King's  bedchamber. 
It  was  next  to  the  old  bedchamber  of  Louis  XIII, 
which  Louis  had  used  as  his  own  when  the  palace  was 
first  finished,  which  was  half  of  what  is  the  (Eil  de 
Boeuf,  and  then  divided  into  two. 

"  The  King  remembered  my  name  and  did  me  the 
honour  to  ask  me  if  I  was  the  son  of  a  Pollnitz  who 
had  been  sent  to  his  Court  by  the  Elector  of  Branden- 
burg. [France  did  not  recognize  the  Kingship  of 
Prussia  till  after  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht.]  When  I 
told  him  I  was  the  grandson,  he  said  to  me  :  '  You  did 
indeed  seem  too  young,  for  it  to  be  believed  that  you 
were  his  son.' 

"  His  Majesty  next  asked  me  if  I  should  stay  long 
in  France.  I  replied  that  I  was  delighted  to  find 
myself  at  the  feet  of  the  greatest  of  monarchs,  and 
that  I  should  have  the  honour  of  paying  my  respects 
to  him  as  long  as  I  possibly  could.  The  King  seemed 
satisfied  with  my  reply,  and,  turning  to  Madame,  he 
said  to  her,  speaking  of  me  :   '  He  speaks  French  well.* 

"He  then  did  me  the  honour  to  bow  to  me,  and 


THE  VAGEANT  79 

said  to  me  as  he  retired  that  it  would  be  a  pleasure  to 
him  to  be  of  any  service  to  me." 

This  gracious  reception  of  the  newly  arrived  young 
Prussian  did  not  pass  unnoticed  by  the  courtiers. 
The  next  day,  in  the  Great  Gallery,  Pollnitz  was  ap- 
proached by  the  Due  de  D ,  first  Gentleman  of  the 

Chamber,  with  every  possible  politeness.  He  told 
him  that  he  should  be  very  pleased  with  the  welcome 
the  King  had  given  him,  "  and  still  more  with  what  he 
had  said  of  me  when  I  had  withdrawn,  that,  of  all  the 
foreigners  presented  to  him,  none  had  bowed  with  better 
grace,  or  with  less  embarrassment,  than  the  Margrave 
of  Anspach  and  myself." 

The  day  following  Madame  presented  Pollnitz  to 
the  Royal  Family,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  the  Dauphin 
and  Dauphine,  the  Duke  and  the  Duchess  of  Berri  the 
granddaughter  of  Madame — 

"  Who  neither  said  a  word  to  me.  But  I  was  very 
well  received  by  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Orleans.  It 
was  difficult  to  know  this  Prince  without  liking  him  ; 
his  affable  manners,  supported  by  a  brilliant  and 
cultivated  mind,  attracted  all  those  who  had  the 
honour  of  approaching  him.  This  Prince  was  very 
assiduous  at  Court  and  also  had  for  Madame,  his  mother, 
the  most  respectful  attentions.  He  never  missed  a 
day  without  paying  his  respects  to  this  Princess ; 
every  evening  he  went  to  her  at  eight  o'clock  and 
played  chess  till  the  King's  supper-time  ;  only  during 
the  game  did  he  sit  down  ;  as  he  came  in,  and  as  he 
retired,  he  always  kissed  Madame 's  hand." 

But  Pollnitz,  in  spite  of  this  gracious  reception,  was 
somewhat  disillusioned.  He  had  reached  Paris,  indeed, 
but  only  in  time  for  the  sunset.  The  Roi  Soleil  was 
declining  in  watery  vapours.  The  disastrous  wars  had 
bled  the  country  of  men  and  money.    The  currency  was 


80  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

depreciated,  agriculture  not  prosperous,  trade  dis- 
ordered. Louis  was  straining  every  nerve  for  peace, 
ready  to  grant  the  Allies  even  more  than  they  eventually 
took  at  the  peace  of  Utrecht. 

The  year  before  the  Dauphin  had  died  of  small-pox. 
The  promising  Duke  of  Burgundy,  the  pupil  of  good 
Bishop  Fenelon,  and  his  delightful  wife,  a  most  attached 
and  worthy  young  couple,  were  now  Dauphin  and 
Dauphine.  The  King,  a  completely  reformed  character, 
since  his  marriage  with  the  widow  Maintenon,  had 
given  up  plays  and  amusements,  and  spent  most  of  the 
time  in  his  wife's  apartments,  on  the  same  floor  as  his 
own,  transacting  affairs  with  his  Ministers  at  her  fireside, 
while  she  did  needlework  and  threw  in  tactful  advice, 
Louis's  conscience  was  in  the  keeping  of  the  Jesuit 
Letellier,  his  confessor,  as  both  Protestants  and  Jan- 
senists  found  to  their  cost,  and  religious  controversies 
and  retaliations  worried  his  last  years. 

"  The  Court  of  France,  though  very  brilliant  from  the 
number  of  Princes  and  Princesses  of  which  it  is  composed, 
was  not  so  gay  as  I  had  imagined,"  found  Pollnitz. 
With  the  throng  of  other  idle  courtiers  he  wandered 
about  the  sumptuous  palace,  admiring  the  marble- 
panelled  walls,  the  pictures  of  old  masters,  framed  in 
gold  and  bronze,  and  interspersed  with  splendid  mirrors  ; 
but  since  the  disasters  of  war  and  the  famine  of  the 
winter  of  1709,  marble  and  gilt  tables  and  chandeliers 
had  replaced  those  in  solid  silver,  which  had  been  sent  to 
the  Mint. 

Most  of  all  was  Pollnitz  impressed  with  the  Royal 
Chapel,  which  was  where  the  Salon  d'Ercule  and  the 
room  beneath  it  now  are. 

"  Nothing  can  be  finer  or  in  better  taste.  The  prin- 
cipal picture  represents  God  the  Father  in  all  his  glory, 
as  perfectly  as  the  weakness  of  man  may  conceive  it.  I 
never  grew  tired  of  admiring  this  piece  of  painting,  and 
I  always  looked  at  it  again  with  renewed  pleasure." 


LOUIS    LE    GRAND. 
From  tlie  Collection  of  A.  il.   Broadley. 


SO] 


THE  VAGRANT  81 

The  King  sat  in  a  box  facing  the  altar,  and  high 
above  it  the  organ,  the  orchestra,  and  the  choir.  Directly 
the  King  entered  with  his  cardinals  and  nobles  in  fine 
procession,  the  splendid  band  struck  up.  The  Body 
Guard  and  a  hundred  of  the  Swiss  Guard,  in  the  gallery 
and  the  body  of  the  chapel,  played  drums  and  fifes  till 
His  Majesty  was  seated.  When  the  Princes  and  Prin- 
cesses came,  which  was  unusual,  they  all  knelt  on  the 
same  bench,  but  not  near  the  King.  The  courtiers  in 
the  chapel  below  turned  their  backs  on  the  altar  and 
faced  the  King.  (!)  "  The  King  appeared  to  pray  to  God, 
and  the  Court  to  pray  to  the  King."  (!)  When  the  King 
communicated  the  chapel  was  spread  with  four  carpets 
up  to  the  altar,  and  the  Swiss  Guard  ranged  in  two 
files  behind  him  and  the  courtiers  surrounded  him.  At 
sermon-time,  when  Bossuet,  Massillon,  and  Bourdaloue 
alternately  thundered  at  or  flattered  him  from  the  pulpit, 
the  King  sat  in  an  arm-chair  facing  it,  and  the  royal 
Princes  on  either  side  on  camp-stools. 

PoUnitz  thought  the  gardens  of  Versailles  one  of  the 
marvels  of  the  age.  "  I  do  not  think  that  the  vaunted 
gardens  of  Semiramis  could  be  as  fine."  He  wandered 
about  among  the  fountains,  strolled  in  the  bosky  Trianons, 
and  stared  at  the  wild  beasts  in  the  menagerie. 

Life  at  the  Court  of  Versailles  during  the  last  years 
of  the  Grand  Monarque — 

"Was  the  most  regular  in  the  world.  The  hours  of 
the  King  were  drawn  up  by  rule,  and,  having  seen  one  of 
his  days,  you  have  seen  them  for  a  year,"  writes  Pollnitz. 
"  The  King  rose  at  nine  or  ten  o'clock ;  the  Princes  and 
all  the  courtiers  were  present  at  his  levee.  When  he 
was  dressed  he  prayed  on  his  knees  on  a  square  of  black 
velvet;  he  was  surrounded  by  his  chaplains  and  the 
Bishops  who  were  at  his  levee,  and  who  also  knelt.  When 
prayers  were  finished  the  King  passed  into  his  study ; 
sometimes  the  Ministers  came  to  talk  business  with 
him.  While  waiting,  the  courtiers  walked  in  the  Grande 
Galerie.     The  King  passed  through  to  mass;  it  was 

1—6 


82  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

then  that  all  the  courtiers  pressed  forward  to  be  noticed 
by  the  King.  I  never  saw  any  nation  more  eager  to 
pay  their  respects  than  the  French.  I  have  seen  several 
courtiers,  who  thought  that  they  had  escaped  the 
Prince's  eye,  go  on  ahead  into  another  hall,  and  so  on, 
till  they  had  been  lucky  enough  to  be  noticed. 

*'  After  mass  the  King  went  back  to  his  study.  Some- 
times he  held  a  council ;  then  he  dined  alone.  Again, 
during  dinner  one  could  notice  the  eagerness  of  the 
courtiers  to  be  seen  by  him.  The  King  had  a  good 
appetite,  and  it  seemed  to  me  that  he  ate  enormously. 
His  dinner  lasted  three  quarters  of  an  hour.  Some  days 
he  had  music.  After  dinner  the  King  went  down  by  a 
little  staircase,  and  got  into  his  coach  to  go  and  hunt 
in  the  park  of  Versailles,  which  was  full  of  small  game. 
He  came  back  in  the  dusk,  and  went  to  Madame  de 
Maintenon's  room,  where  only  a  few  people  of  the  old 
Court  were  present.  Usually  it  was  only  women,  like 
Madame  de  Caylus,  a  relation  of  Madame  de  Maintenon, 
or  Marquise  de  Dangeau,  who  played  at  herlan  with 
the  King,  when  the  Ministers  were  not  there  ;  in  that 
case,  instead  of  playing  they  talked  affairs,  and  fre- 
quently it  was  then  that  everything  was  settled. 

"  At  ten  at  night  it  was  announced  that  His  Majesty 
was  served  ;  the  King  went  to  table.  The  Princes  and 
Princesses  never  failed  to  be  present.  The  Duchesses 
were  placed  behind  the  Princes'  camp-stools,  on  either 
side  of  the  table  ;  the  other  women  of  quality  stood 
behind  on  the  right  of  the  King's  arm-chair.  His 
Majesty  saluted  first  the  Princes  and  Princesses  and  all 
the  ladies,  and  then  seated  himself  in  his  arm-chair. 
Then  the  Princes  and  Princesses  sat  down,  and  the 
Duchesses.  The  ladies  who  were  not  entitled  to  do  so 
passed  into  an  adjoining  salon,  where  they  were  per- 
mitted to  seat  themselves.  The  supper  lasted  no 
longer  than  the  dinner  ;  the  King  talked  little  ;  some- 
times he  made  a  remark  to  Madame,  or  the  Duchesse 
d'Orleans.  I  have  never  seen  him  talk  to  the  Dues  de 
Berri  or  Orleans,  nor  with  the  Duchesse  de  Berri. 


THE  VAGRANT  83 

"  After  supper  the  King,  preceded  by  the  Princes, 
passed  into  his  bedchamber,  where  he  found  the  ladies 
who  were  not  Duchesses  :  he  bowed  to  them,  and  then 
placed  himself  on  the  side  of  the  balustrade  which  was 
before  his  bed,  where  he  stayed  till  the  Princesses  and 
Duchesses  had  entered  the  room.  I  noticed  that  the 
ladies  of  the  old  Court  made  a  deep  curtsy  to  the 
King's  bed  on  entering  the  room,  which  the  young 
ladies  did  not  do  ;  apparently  more  proud  of  their 
youth  and  of  their  charms,  they  thought  themselves 
absolved  from  so  much  respect. 

"  The  Duchesses  who  had  been  present  at  supper 
havmg  entered  the  room,  the  King  bowed  to  them,  and 
also  to  the  other  ladies  ;  then,  preceded  by  the  Princes 
and  followed  by  the  Princesses  who  had  supped  with 
the  King,  he  passed  into  his  study,  where  the  Princes 
and  Princesses  of  the  Blood  were  also  present.  His 
Majesty  conversed  with  them  some  time  ;  during  that 
time  the  Duchesses  and  the  other  ladies  withdrew.  At 
last  the  King  dismissed  the  Princes  and  Princesses  and 
went  to  bed.'' 


CHAPTER   IV 

A  VERY  monotonous  and  boring  routine  this,  which  he 
has  described,  for  a  young  fellow  of  twenty,  eager  to 
amuse  himself  !  Pollnitz  found  himself  dancing  attend- 
ance on  an  aged  bigot  and  his  elderly  sister-in-law. 
Escaping  from  the  Scylla  of  the  Berlin  Schloss,  he  was 
menaced  by  the  Charybdis  of  Versailles.  We  have 
seen  how  bitterly  disillusioned  he  felt  over  the  Court 
of  Louis.  But  there  were  alleviations — the  swing  of 
the  pendulum,  the  revers  de  la  medaille.  Can  we  wonder 
that  he  seized  upon  them  with  an  avidity  that  brought 
about  a  life-long  existence  of  impecuniosity  ? 

"  When  the  King  went  to  bed  the  courtiers  then 
divided.  Some  went  to  the  coucher  of  the  Due  de  Berri, 
others  to  that  of  the  Due  d'Orleans.  Those  who  were 
paying  court  to  that  Prince  were  very  well  received 
there  ;  as  for  myself,  I  went  as  often  as  I  possibly  could, 
not  so  much  to  make  my  court  to  Madame,  as  because 
of  a  real  liking  I  had  for  this  Prince. 

"  Thus  the  King  passed  his  life.  The  courtiers,  on 
their  part,  had  no  very  lively  pleasures  ;  gambling  was 
almost  their  only  occupation.  One  generally  gathered  at 
the  Prince  Armagnac  de  Lorraine's,  the  Grand  Equerry, 
where  we  played  in  the  afternoon.  Foreigners  were 
also  excellently  received  by  him,  as  well  as  by  the 
Cardinal  de  Kohan.  This  latter  lived  in  great  magnifi- 
cence. One  met  the  most  distinguished  men  in  France 
at  these  two  noblemen's." 

As  is  so  often  the  case  in  the  lull  after  a  great  war, 
which  has  lasted  long,  a  mania  for  gambling  had  seized 

84 


THE  VAGRANT  85 

the  upper  classes  in  France  and  the  nations  which 
imitated  them.  It  was  the  same  during  the  Regency  in 
England  after  the  stress  of  the  Napoleonic  campaigns, 
and,  quite  recently,  we  have  witnessed  the  same  here 
again. 

The  vacuous,  idle  life,  devoid  of  serious  occupation  or 
interest,  without  healthy  outdoor  pursuits  —  the  royal 
**  hunts  "  hardly  counted — to  which  the  courtiers  at 
Versailles  were  condemned,  was  an  excellent  forcing- 
ground  for  the  vice.  We  must  recollect,  however,  that 
the  eighteenth  century  did  not  consider  gambling  as 
such  ;   it  regarded  it  as  a  pastime,  faute  de  mieux. 

Louis  himself,  in  his  youth,  had  never  played  much, 
or  for  large  stakes ;  but  he  had  liked  the  excitement  of 
watching  high  play.  Now,  in  his  old  age,  while  he  was 
himself  content  with  berlan  or  trictrac  in  the  Main- 
tenons'  room,  his  Court  was  a  veritable  gambling-hell. 
As,  in  the  very  centre  of  the  raging  cyclone  which  is 
dealing  disaster  to  every  ship  within  its  circle,  there  is 
one  small  spot  of  complete  calm,  so  round  the  aged  Louis, 
the  perfect  gentleman  in  manners  and  dignity,  whom 
passion,  bereavement,  disaster,  had  apparently  left 
unmoved,  there  surged  a  very  whirlpool  of  gambling, 
vice,  intrigue,  fanaticism,  and  persecution. 

The  Abbe  Primi  Visconti  has  left  us  a  sketch  of  the 
aristocratic  gambling- table  of  the  period.  Hoca,  lans- 
quenet, hombre^  were  out  of  fashion  among  the  games 
of  chance,  and  bassette  was  the  rage. 

"  This  game  collected  such  a  strange  assembly  that 
it  was  painted  even  on  fans.  One  saw  the  Comtesse 
de  Soissons  in  a  great  arm-chair  with  a  number  of  little 
dogs  round  her.  Madame  de  Vertanon  was  cutting  the 
cards,  Madame  de  Ramburses  was  tearing  some  of  them. 
The  Marquis  de  Gordes  was  looking  on,  an  eyeglass  in 
his  hand.  The  Due  de  Vendome  was  taking  snufE ; 
the  Comte  de  Grammont  was  tearing  his  wig,  the  Cheva- 
lier de  Vendome  was  beating  the  table  with  his  fists,  the 
Due  de  Crequy  was  turning  up  his  sleeves,  the  Comte  de 


86  A  VAGABOND  COUETIER 

Roye  was  kicking  his  feet,  the  Marquis  de  Seignelay  was 
swearing,  and  all  were  making  gestures  according  to 
the  grief  or  dissatisfaction  which  fate  was  dealing  them 
out." 

He  tells  us  that  the  Marquis  de  Beaumont  lost  ten 
thousand  pistoles  without  saying  a  word.  The  Duchess 
of  Cleveland  staked  two  million  francs  in  playing  with 
the  Chevalier  Chatillon.  Primi  himself  once  put  on 
one  pistole  and  won  three  hundred  in  two  hours.  "  The 
Comtesse  de  Soissons  followed  his  luck,  and  the  Duchesse 
de  Bouillon  and  others  won  large  sums,  so  that  the 
Ambassador  Giustiniani,  who  was  cutting,  lost  six 
thousand  pistoles  in  a  few  minutes." 

There  was  a  great  mixture  at  the  card-table. 

"  It  had  been  in  vogue  for  a  long  time  in  France," 
writes  Pollnitz.  "  I  remember  hearing  Madame  say 
that,  her  husband  being  at  S.  Cloud  for  a  few  days,  she 
went  to  see  him  from  Versailles.  She  found  him  playing 
lansquenet  with  twenty -two  players ;  she  only  knew  two 
of  them.  When  the  game  was  over  she  asked  Monsieur 
if  he  knew  with  whom  he  had  been  playing.  '  They  are 
quite  well-mannered  people,'  replied  the  Prince,  '  good 
merchants  of  Paris  who  play  high  and  boldly.'  Madame 
added  to  this  that  she  had  not  then  been  long  in  France, 
and  she  had  been  so  shocked  to  find  Monsieur,  her  hus- 
band, in  such  company  that  she  could  not  help  blaming 
him.  But  the  Prince  only  laughed,  saying  :  *  That  is  a 
remains  of  your  German  pride,  and  in  time  you  will  get 
over  it. 

Madame  herself,  Pollnitz  soon  found,  was  always 
unlucky  at  cards,  and  "  did  not  like  follies."  She  tells 
a  correspondent  that — • 

"  Here  fabulous  sums  are  staked,  and  the  players  are 
like  raving  maniacs.  They  howl ;  one  strikes  the  table 
with  his  fist  so  hard  that  the  whole  room  resounds  with 


THE  VAGRANT  87 

the  blow  ;  a  third  blasphemes  so  as  to  make  one's  hair 
stand  on  end  ;  all  are  beside  themselves,  and  frightful 
to  behold." 

Into  the  midst  of  this  Bedlam  burst  a  bomb-shell. 
Great  hopes  had  been  built  on  the  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
now  Dauphin.  Carefully  educated  by  the  saintly 
Fenelon,  he  "  was  of  exemplary  life  and  serious  purpose." 
**  He  knew,"  writes  Pollnitz,  "  how  to  unite  the  calm  of 
the  cloister  with  the  bustle  of  the  Court,  and,  always 
assiduous  in  the  great  business  of  his  salvation,  he  yet 
considered,  and  with  reason,  that  the  study  of  the 
affairs  of  State  should  enter  into  his  religious  exercises." 
His  bride  had  come  to  him  over  the  Alps  sixteen  years 
before,  daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Savoy.  Charming, 
dainty,  lovely,  she  instantly  won  the  heart  of  her  grand- 
father-in-law,  and  kept  it  through  times  of  stress  and 
trouble  when  he  and  her  father  were  at  war.  For  her 
he  collected  the  menagerie  at  Versailles,  with  her  he 
became  a  child  again,  watching  Madame  and  the  ladies 
play  with  her  at  blind-man's  buff.  Maintenon  educated 
her,  taking  her  to  classes  at  S.  Cyr.  At  twelve  she  had 
a  grand  wedding  ;  the  Duke  was  fifteen.  The  young 
couple  were  happy  and  attached.  The  life  and  soul  of 
the  royal  circle,  a  gleam  of  sunshine  in  Louis's  sad  old 
age,  she  passed  unscathed  through  the  fiery  ordeal  of 
court  life,  and,  when  war  came,  bore  herself  "  with  the 
dignity  of  the  first  lady  in  the  land,  the  feelings  of  a 
Roman  woman  for  Rome,  and  the  agitation  of  a  soul 
which  desires  good  with  an  ardour  beyond  her  age." 

"  From  time  to  time  history  shows  us  seductive 
personalities  who  draw  the  reader  into  love  with  them. 
Often  Providence  removes  them  from  the  world  adorned 
by  the  charms  that  time  effaces,  and  hopes  that  it 
would  have  realized.  The  Duchess  of  Burgundy  was 
one  of  these  gracious  apparitions. 

"  An  astrologer  had  foretold  her  that  she  should 
die  at  twenty-seven.    She  often  spoke   of  it  to  her 


88  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

husband,  asking  him  if  he  would  remarry  :  *  I  hope 
God  will  not  punish  me  enough  to  see  you  die/  he 
replied ;  '  but  if  this  calamity  does  happen  to  me,  I 
shall  never  remarry,  for  in  eight  days  I  shall  follow 
you  to  the  grave/  '' 

However,  the  yomig  Duchess  seemed  very  well  and 
gay.  But,  doubtless,  Versailles,  overcrowded  and  ill- 
ventilated,  was  no  very  healthy  habitation,  even  in 
those  drain-less  days.  Suddenly  she  sickened  of  what 
was  termed  a  malignant  fever,  and  died  after  a  few 
days'  illness,  "  almost  in  the  arms  of  the  Duchess  of 
Orleans,  whom  she  had  asked  to  stay  with  her." 

"  The  King  felt  this  death  keenly,"'  writes  PoUnitz. 
Saint-Simon  says  this  sorrow  "  was  the  only  one  which 
really  touched  him  in  his  life."  He  moved  instantly  to 
Marly,  "  where  Louis  XIV  liked  to  be,"  and,  in  the  most 
beautiful  of  all  the  royal  gardens  and  grounds,  to  lay 
aside  much  of  pomp  and  ceremony. 

/With  him  went  the  bereaved  young  husband, 
staggering  under  the  blow  he  had  received.  Scarcely 
had  he  reached  Marly  when  he  too  fell  ill,  and  of  the 
same  disease. 

"  He  received  his  sentence  of  death,"  says  Pollnitz, 
*'  with  a  truly  Christian  courage,  and  in  the  height  of 
his  fever  was  often  heard  to  ejaculate  :  '  My  God  !  save 
the  King  and  the  State.' 

"  The  evening  before  his  death  he  had  a  great  desire 
to  hear  mass  ;  it  was  very  difficult  to  make  him  under- 
stand that  the  rules  of  the  Church  do  not  permit  of 
mass  being  said  at  that  hour.  As  he  continued  to  ask 
for  it,  directly  midnight  had  struck,  it  was  said  in  his 
room  at  an  altar  placed  at  the  foot  of  his  bed.  Monsieur 
le  Due  was  very  calm,  he  did  not  cease  praying  to  God 
till  his  strength  gave  way  more  and  more,  and  he  died  " 
— just  six  days  after  his  wife  ! 

**  I  am  so  staggered  that  I  cannot  get  over  it,"  hastily 
scribbled  Madame,  the  same  day,  "  and  I  hardly  know 


THE  VAGRANT  89 

what  I  am  saying.  You,  who  are  kind,  will  surely 
pity  us,  for  the  sadness  which  reigns  here  cannot  be 
described/' 

*'  The  King,"  writes  Pollnitz,  "  needed  all  his  courage 
to  bear  so  many  sorrows,  blow  upon  blow.  The  Royal 
Family  were  in  the  utmost  consternation.  They  tried 
to  persuade  the  King  to  go  away  for  a  time  for  change  of 
air  ;  but  he  replied  with  courage  that  he  was  in  the  hand 
of  God,  and  so  he  would  stay  where  he  was."" 

On  February  22nd  the  bodies  of  husband  and  wife  were 
borne  from  Versailles  to  S.  Denis  on  the  same  car. 
Never  did  Pollnitz  "  see  a  sadder  sight." 

Worse  was  to  follow.  The  Dauphin  had  left  two 
sons,  the  eldest  known  as  the  Duke  of  Brittany.  For 
three  weeks  was  he  Dauphin,  and  then  the  same  fell 
disease  carried  him  off  also.  The  hopes  of  France  now 
rested  upon  one  delicate  baby  ! 

"  This  time  of  desolation,"  wrote  Voltaire  years 
afterwards,  "  made  on  all  sides  such  a  deep  impression 
that,  during  the  long  minority  of  Louis  XV,  I  have  seen 
many  people  who  wept  in  speaking  of  these  losses." 

It  was  in  keeping  with  the  age  that  rumours  of  poison- 
ing ran  riot  over  the  stricken  land.  Fingers  were  pointed 
at  Madame's  son,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  between  whom 
and  the  throne  now  stood  only  the  childless  Duke  of 
Berri  and  one  fragile  little  life. 

Philip,  the  King  his  uncle  had  said  of  him,  was  "  a 
braggadocio  of  vice,"  a  drunken,  profligate  infidel, 
dabbling,  after  the  fashion  of  his  day,  in  chemistry  and 
black  magic.  On  the  day  of  the  funeral  he  was  hooted 
in  the  streets  with  cries  of  "  See  the  murderer !  " 
"  He  was  shunned  in  the  royal  apartments,  and,  if  he 
approached  a  group  of  courtiers,  one  after  another 
slipped  away,  till  he  found  himself  alone."  But  he  was 
not  cast  in  the  mould  of  a  Richard  III — weaker,  un- 


90  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

ambitious — and  posterity  has  failed  to  find  an  iota  of 
evidence  against  him. 

The  disease  was  epidemic  both  in  Paris  and  the 
provinces.  In  the  city  Voltaire  says  it  carried  off  five 
hundred  people  in  a  month,  of  all  classes. 

The  Duke  was  overwhelmed  with  the  calumny,  and 
so  was  his  mother.  He  even  went  so  far  as  to  obtain  a 
lettre  de  cachet  from  the  King  ordering  him  to  the  Bastille 
to  await  a  formal  trial ;  but  Madame  persuaded  Louis 
to  withdraw  it.  "  On  the  face  of  the  accusation/'  says 
Voltaire,  "  was  the  stupid  idea  that  any  one  could  make 
away  with  all  these  lives,  and  yet  let  the  one  survive 
who  could  avenge  them." 

Following  upon  this  series  of  sudden  and  unexpected 
deaths  came  dire  news  from  Berlin  to  Pollnitz.  For 
some  time  his  King  had  been  in  failing  health,  and  the 
Queen,  victim  of  religious  mania,  in  an  even  worse 
condition.  Pollnitz  describes  how,  in  one  of  her  fits 
of  insanity,  she  rushed,  dishevelled  and  half-dressed,  by 
a  secret  staircase  into  the  King's  apartment.  Bursting 
through  a  closed  glass  door,  she  threw  herself,  bleeding, 
upon  the  poor  old  invalid,  dozing  in  his  chair.  He 
woke  up  with  a  start,  thinking  he  saw  the  "  White 
Lady  "— 

"  A  phantom  clothed  in  white  which,  an  old  tradition 
tells,  appears  in  the  palaces  of  the  House  of  Brandenburg 
shortly  before  the  death  of  a  member  of  that  family. 
This  dire  story  is  believed  also  in  the  margravates  of 
Brandenburg,  Baireuth,  and  Brandenburg-Anspach.  It 
relates  that  Joachim  I,  wishing  to  enlarge  his  castle  at 
Berlin,  forced  an  old  woman  to  sell  him  her  house.  She 
did  not  wish  to  leave  it,  and,  out  of  spite,  threatened  to 
be  a  bird  of  ill-omen  to  Joachim  and  his  descendants." 

Frederic  took  to  his  bed,  never  to  leave  it,  and  died 
soon  afterwards. 

Pollnitz  felt  his  death,  for  his  King  had  been  a  good 
friend  to  him. 


THE  VAGRANT  91 

"  He  loved  and  protected  the  sciences  and  arts," 
he  writes,  "  but,  the  great  qualities  of  his  mind,  the 
love  he  bore  to  his  people,  and  the  consideration  he 
had  for  the  nobility,  will  make  him  live  for  ever  in  the 
hearts  of  those  of  his  subjects  who  know  what  gratitude 
demands/' 


CHAPTER   V 

The  French  Court  was  in  deepest  mourning,  "  all  joys, 
pleasures,  amusements  over,  and  every  kind  of  charm 
eclipsed,"  wails  Saint-Simon.  But,  with  the  first  ap- 
proach of  spring,  it  moved  to  lovely  Fontainebleau. 
The  truce  with  the  English  and  Dutch,  the  victory  of 
Denain,  and  the  certainty  that  peace  was  in  the  air, 
revived  every  one's  spirits. 

*'  Not  so  magnificent  as  Versailles,"  PoUnitz  yet 
thought  Fontainebleau  had  "  the  air  of  a  chateau,  which 
Versailles  lacked.  Moreover,  Nature  and  Art  seem  to 
have  worked  in  concert  to  plan  the  splendid  buildings 
which  many  kings  have  erected  at  Fontainebleau, 
whereas,  at  Versailles,  it  seems  as  if  Nature  had  not 
entered  into  the  scheme,  all  is  artificial  and  too  elaborate. 
...  In  the  town  most  of  the  nobility  have  mansions 
where  they  put  their  servants  and  carriages,  for  the 
custom  of  the  Court  of  France  is  that  every  nobleman 
attached  to  it  must  be  lodged  in  the  King's  palace,  and 
the  French  are  so  infatuated  with  this  custom  that  a 
nobleman  would  prefer  to  be  quartered  in  a  rat-hole  in 
the  palace  than  to  be  comfortable  in  a  fine  apartment 
in  his  mansion  at  Versailles  and  Fontainebleau." 

"  No  public  calamities,"  writes  PoUnitz,  "  affected 
the  gambling."  The  younger  members  of  the  Royal 
Family  and  the  Court  plunged  yet  deeper  into  play,  which 
took  place  at  the  Duchesse  de  Berri's  and  the  Duke 
d'Antin's,  and  of  which  he  tells  a  characteristic  story. 

*'  The  game  was  twelve  players  at  lansquenet,  who 

92 


THE   VAGRANT  93 

started  with  four  louis  and  finished  with  rouleaus  of  a 
hundred  louis-d'or.  One  evening  I  won,  in  less  than 
an  hour,  the  possession  of  seven  hundred  louis;  more- 
over, Madame  la  Duchesse  de  la  Ferte  rooked  me  of  a 
good  hundred,  besides  eighty  which  she  borrowed  from 
me,  and  which  she  never  has  repaid  me.  Perhaps  she 
thought  herself  obliged  to  recoup  herself  for  the  trouble 
she  had  kindly  taken  in  putting  my  money  on  the  table, 
as  the  great  number  of  ladies  prevented  me  approaching 
it/' 

The  Due  d'Orleans'  notorious  daughter,  plunging, 
says  her  grandmother,  "  into  every  imaginable  folly/' 
was  one  of  the  most  inveterate  gamblers. 

"  I  have  seen,"  writes  Nemeizt,  another  German 
traveller  staying  in  Paris,  "  in  the  apartment  of  Madame 
la  Duchesse  de  Berri,  all  the  Princes  and  Princesses  of 
royal  blood,  with  other  illustrious  courtiers,  sitting  at  a 
great  round  table,  playing  for  pistoles,  while  the  Duchesse 
herself,  nearing  her  time,  has  laid  herself  on  a  state  bed, 
in  front  of  which  was  a  table  of  hombre,  many  people 
of  middle-class  standing  behind  the  aforementioned 
great  personages  to  throw  louis-d'or  in  their  turn  on 
the  table." 

No  wonder  that  Madame  wrote  of  "  the  existing 
state  of  things.  Young  men  are  frightfully  vicious,  and 
do  not  deprive  themselves  of  the  pleasure  of  lying  and 
cheating;  they  think  that  to  be  a  man  of  honour  is 
a  ridiculous  thing."  She  should  have  included  the 
women. 

Madame  took  a  motherly  interest  in  her  young  lands- 
mann.  She  was  evidently  perturbed  by  his  gambling, 
and  feared  he  was  going  to  the  bad.  The  change  of 
rulers  in  Prussia  probably  suggested  to  her  the  idea 
that  Pollnitz  would  be  better  at  home  than  in  Paris, 
for  she  wrote  to  the  Duchess  of  Hanover  about  him 
soon  after  King  Frederic's  death. 


94  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

"  Herr  von  Polnitz  (sic)  has  not  yet  taken  service 
here.  I  doubt  if  it  can  be  done.  He  would  much  have 
liked  to  borrow  money  of  me  and  of  my  people,  but  I 
refused  to  allow  him  to  do  either.  I,  myself,  have  none 
just  at  present,  and  if  I  were  to  order  my  people  to 
advance  him  some  I  should  have  to  go  bail  for  him,  and 
God  knows  whereto  that  would  lead  me,  for  one  cannot 
trust  a  gambler.  He  declines  to  change  his  religion, 
but  wishes  to  join  a  regiment  which  is  quite  full  of 
Lutherans  and  reformed.  It  seemed  to  me  odd  that 
he  is  trying  to  take  service  just  at  the  time  when  there 
is  talk  of  peace.  I  told  him  as  much ;  but  he  says  he 
has  fallen  into  such  disgrace  with  the  Prince  Royal 
that  he  cannot  think  of  staying  at  the  Court  of  Berlin.'* 

The  Due  de ,  First  Gentleman  of  the  Chamber, 

who,  on  the  day  after  Pollnitz's  presentation  to  Louis,  had 
told  him  of  the  favourable  impression  he  had  made  upon 
the  King,  "showed  me  attentions  I  shall  never  forget/' 
He  had  suggested  that  the  Baron  should  enter  the  French 
army,  and  even  promised  to  obtain  a  colonelcy  for  him 
if  he  would  become  a  Roman  Catholic.  Pollnitz's  com- 
ments are  interesting  when  read  by  the  light  of  his 
subsequent  conduct.  It  was  frivolity,  not  faith,  which, 
at  this  moment,  determined  his  refusal  to  accept  the 
condition. 

"  While  thanking  him  for  his  kind  offers,  I  assured 
him  that  interest  would  not  make  me  change  my  religion. 
I  was  still  full  of  the  prejudices  of  the  Protestants  against 
the  Catholics ;  moreover,  I  was  then  of  an  age  when 
serious  reflections  do  not  appeal  to  one.  Pleasure 
occupied  me  entirely,  and,  indeed,  it  was  not  difficult  to 
give  oneself  up  to  amusement ;  all  the  kingdom,  especi- 
ally Paris,  breathed  an  air  of  gaiety  which  was 
irresistible." 

Peace,  the  longed-for,  was  on  the  point  of  ratification ; 
to  the  volatile  French  mind  Denain  seemed  to  avenge 


THE    VAGRANT  95 

Blenheim.  France  and  England  exchanged  envoys  to 
arrange  terms.  The  Due  d'Aumont,  though  well 
received,  writes  Pollnitz,  by  the  court  party  in  London, 
was  insulted  by  the  Opposition  and  the  populace,  who 
would  not  hear  mention  of  peace.  The  Duke's  hotel 
was  set  on  fire,  "  and  he  lost  a  great  deal,  for  the  Duke, 
to  make  a  fine  show,  had  borrowed  furniture  from 
several  people,  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans  lost  a  fine 
tapestry  and  several  rare  pictures.'' 

Foreign  visitors  enlivened  Fontainebleau,  the  Elector 
of  Bavaria,  brother  of  the  first  Dauphine  ;  and  the 
English  envoy,  St.  John,  afterwards  Lord  Bolingbroke, 
was  made  much  of  by  the  King  in  a  very  pronounced 
manner. 

**  I  was  one  day,''  writes  Pollnitz,  "  at  His  Majesty's 
dinner,  when  there  was  to  be  music.  Directly  it  began 
the  King  stopped  it  saying,  aloud  :  '  I  hear  M.  St.  John 
dines  with  the  Due  d'Antin ;  let  my  band  go  and  play 
there,  and  say  that  I  send  it,  and  hope  they  will  enjoy 
it.'  You  may  judge  how  the  courtiers,  in  imitation  of 
the  King,  vied  with  each  other  in  welcoming  the  English 
Minister,  who,  moreover,  on  his  part,  well  deserved  the 
attention  paid  him. 

"  All  this  time  no  one  did  anything  but  enjoy  them- 
selves. Amusements  succeeded  each  other.  The  hunts 
were  particularly  fine.  The  ladies  in  the  suites  of  the 
Duchesse  de  Berri  or  Madame,  on  horseback,  or  in 
carriages.  So  many  pretty  women  on  horseback,  all 
splendidly  dressed,  the  King  in  a  light  chaise,  surrounded 
by  mounted  courtiers,  the  turn-out  of  the  hunt — all  this 
made  a  great  show  in  the  fine  forest  of  Fontainebleau. 

"  On  days  when  there  was  no  hunting  the  King  drove 
in  an  open  chaise  along  the  grand  canal,  the  ladies 
following.  In  the  evening  there  was  a  comedy,  or  a 
reception,  at  the  Duchesse  de  Berri's,  where  lansquenet 
was  played.  On  non-hunting  days  one  met  at  several 
noblemen's.  I  noticed  that  most  of  the  lords  were  more 
inclined  to  be  civil  to  one  at  Fontainebleau  than  at 


96  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

Versailles ;  if  one  was  known  as  a  man  of  birth,  one 
easily  procured  the  loan  of  the  King's  horses  for  hunting, 
which  is  never  done  except  in  France  and  Lorraine, 
though  I  have  sometimes  seen  the  same  thing  done  at 
the  court  of  Bavaria,  but  rarely." 

But,  after  a  while,  however,  attendance  at  Court  began 
to  pall  upon  Pollnitz.  He  seems  to  have  had  no  salary 
from  Madame,  though  dependent  on  her  protection  and 
favour.  The  old  lady  was  becoming  more  of  *'  a  hermit," 
as  she  said  of  herself,  and  her  giddy  young  country- 
man went  off  to  have  a  fling  in  the  wider  dissipation  of 
Paris  itself.  But  almost  directly  he  had  settled  himself 
there,  he  fell  so  ill  as  to  be  "  within  an  inch  of  the  grave." 
However,  Helvetius,  the  celebrated  Dutch  doctor,  father 
of  the  famous  philosopher,  brought  him  round.  When 
he  was  well  enough  to  go  out,  Pollnitz  was  ordered  air 
and  exercise  in  the  gardens  of  the  Luxembourg  Palace, 
the  best  open  space  among  the  narrow  streets  of  old 
Paris  within  easy  reach.  At  first  the  air  really  did  him 
good,  "  but  soon  it  became  very  pernicious  to  me." 

For,  one  day,  as  he  sat  on  the  terrace,  he  saw  afar 
off  two  ladies  of  very  distinguished,  grand  carriage, 
and  mien,  and  most  attractive  in  their  deshabille — 'the 
short,  hooped  skirts,  and  half-concealing  hoods  over 
unpowdered  hair — of  the  period. 

*'  They  came  towards  the  Terrace  where  I  was  walking. 
I  sat  down  on  a  bench  to  see  them  pass  by.  I  confess 
that  they  seemed  to  me  as  pleasant  as  their  deshabille 
was  grand  and  gay.  When  they  passed  me  by,  one  of 
them,  perhaps  by  chance,  let  her  handkerchief  drop  ;  I 
picked  it  up  at  once  and  presented  it  to  her.  She 
received  it  with  much  politeness.  I  paid  her  a  compli- 
ment to  which  she  replied  with  wit.  Gradually  we  fell 
into  conversation,  which  in  truth  only  lasted  a  quarter 
of  an  hour,  but  which,  nevertheless,  cost  me  dear ; 
I  fell  in  love,  and  more  in  love  than  I  can  express.  These 
Ladies  asked  me  my  name.    You  can  imagine  I  did  not 


THE  VAGRANT  97 

require  telling  twice  to  give  it,  all  the  more  as  I  hoped 
that  they,  in  return,  would  be  kind  enough  to  tell  me 
theirs.  But,  however  much  I  pressed  them  about  it 
they  would  not  ever  satisfy  me.  The  one  who  had  at 
first  struck  me  most  told  me,  in  very  good  German,  not 
to  trouble  to  find  out  who  they  were,  as  I  should  not  fail 
to  see  them  again  if  only  I  remained  in  Paris.  She 
told  me  that  as  she  was  leaving.  I  gave  her  my  hand 
to  escort  her  to  her  coach,  which  seemed  to  me  very  well 
turned  out.  I  also  saw  two  tall,  well-dressed  Footmen. 
All  this  confirmed  me  in  the  surmise  that  they  were 
either  Ladies  of  Quality,  or,  at  least,  courtesans  expen- 
sively provided  for. 

"  I  would  have  given  everything  in  the  world  to  be 
told  exactly  which  it  was  ;  but  it  was  quite  impossible 
to  find  out  anything.  The  Valet  I  had  with  me  was  a 
German,  even  more  of  a  foreigner  than  myself,  and, 
moreover,  very  unfitted  to  manage  such  discoveries.  I 
therefore  remained  in  a  deadly  disquietude  which  was 
like  to  bring  back  the  inflammation  of  the  brain  I  had 
had  during  the  illness  from  which  I  was  recovering. 
Every  day  I  did  not  miss  going  back  to  the  Luxembourg, 
and  I  stayed  there  from  nine  in  the  morning  till  evening, 
except  for  a  moment  when  I  went  home  to  dine.  All 
these  goings  and  comings  lasted  for  about  a  fortnight, 
at  the  end  of  which  I  found  myself  no  more  advanced 
than  at  first.  At  last,  when  J  was  in  despair  at  not 
discovering  my  Fair  One,  I  was  very  surprised  to  see 
her  in  a  place  where  I  little  dreamt  of  meeting  her. 

"  One  day  I  accompanied  Mesdames  de  V and 

D to  the  theatre,  where  the  Cid  was  to  be  played. 

The  elder  Quinault  came  on  as  '  Rodrigue."  Imagine 
my  surprise  when  I  saw  the  Object  of  my  passion  also 
in  the  Piece,  in  which  she  was  playing  the  part  of 
'  Chimene.'  In  all  my  life  I  had  never  felt  so  em- 
barrassed. I  did  not  know  if  I  ought  to  pursue  such  a 
love-affair.  I  felt  some  repugnance  at  being  fond  of  a 
person  whom  I  saw  in  a  profession  which  is  usually  not 
compatible  with  the  feelings  of  delicacy  which  well- 

I — 7 


98  A  VAGABOND  COUETIER 

bred  men  always  seek  in  love.  The  decision  I  came  to 
was  truly  that  of  a  yomig  fellow  of  nineteen  ;  that  is 
to  say,  I  did  exactly  the  opposite  of  what  I  ought  to 
have  done.  I  abandoned  myself  madly  to  my  passion  ; 
hardly  could  I  bear  to  wait  for  the  interval  between  the 
long  and  the  short  Play,  to  go  to  the  Foyer. 

"  There  I  found  my  Fair  One  surrounded  by  several 
men  of  my  acquaintance,  whom  at  first  I  took  for  as 
many  rivals  ;   so  that,  not  satisfied  with  being  in  love, 

I  also  became  jealous.     I  spoke  to  the  D (that  was 

the  actress's  name) ;  but  I  saw  my  conversation  made 
her  ill  at  ease,  and  I  noticed  that  she  had  to  consider 
a  gentleman  of  the  long  robe  who  was  beside  her.     I 

was  not  mistaken  ;    it  was  B ,   a  Parliamentary 

Lawyer,  who  contributed  to  the  Lady's  expenses,  and 
who  acted  more  as  a  Financier  than  as  a  Magistrate.  I 
was  conceited  enough  to  determine  to  oust  this  Lover, 
or,  at  least,  I  hoped  to  give  him  some  points.  In  order 
to  succeed  in  doing  this  I  began  to  frequent  the  Theatre 
very  assiduously,  and  I  soon  had  the  consolation  of  not 
sighing  in  vain. 

"The  difficulty  was  to  meet ;  but  love  and  luck  soon 

provided  the  means.    Young  G ,  the  Sister  of  the 

D ,  and  who  lived  with  her,  fell  ill  of  small-pox ; 

the  Lawyer,  who  was  very  afraid  of  it,  instantly  removed 

the  D ,  and  gave  her  apartments  at  the  Hotel  d'En- 

tragues.  The  Actress  informed  me  of  her  new  abode, 
and  the  same  day  I  took  a  room  in  the  same  Hotel,  taking 
with  me  only  one  Servant,  the  Confidant  of  my  little 
secrets.  There,  despite  the  inconvenient  Argus,  I  was 
easily  able  to  see  his  Mistress." 

The  ancient  rivalry  between  the  noblesse  de  I'epee  and 
the  noblesse  de  la  robe,  added  piquancy  to  the  intrigue, 

and  the  D was  fair  game.     But  a  few  years  later 

was  not  poor  Adrienne  Lecouvreur,  the  star  of  the  Paris 
stage,  the  beloved  of  Marshal  Saxe,  of  Voltaire,  denied 
upon  her  death-bed  "  benefit  of  clergy,"  and,  a  social 
outcast,  buried  like  a  dog  ? 


THE  VAGRANT  99 

"  But  the  Lawyer  became  suspicious,  and  began 
investigations,  and  very  soon  discovered  enough  to 
satisfy  his  curiosity.  .  .  .  It  is  easy  to  imagine  the 
fury  of  this  outraged  Lover.  Like  another  Roland,  he 
wreaked  his  vengeance  for  the  unfaithfulness  of  his 
Angelique  on  whatever  was  to  hand  ;  he  broke,  he 
smashed  everything,  he  even  tore  off  his  Fair  One's 
wig  and  vowed  to  extermmate  every  one.  The  young 
Lady  only  met  all  this  noise  by  tears,  which  at  last  were 
efficacious  in  soothing  this  enraged  Lover.  Becoming 
calmer,  he  mingled  bitter  reproaches  with  tender  senti- 
ments ;  he  even  played  upon  her  weak  point,  and 
offered  increased  munificence  in  return  for  a  promise 
of  inviolable  fidelity.  The  Fair  Frail  swore  that  hence- 
forth nothing  should  make  her  swerve  from  the  path 
of  duty,  and,  bursting  into  tears,  consented  to  receive 
two  thousand  crowns  more,  so  that  her  gains  came  to 
twenty  thousand  livres.  With  much  joy  on  either  side, 
this  treaty  was  ratified  ;  but  yet  it  was  not  carried  out 
in  all  its  rigour.  I  continued  to  see  the  young  Lady, 
till,  at  last,  her  sister  having  recovered  from  her  illness, 
she  returned  to  her  own  house.  The  difficulties  I  met 
with  there  satiated  me  quite  as  much  as  my  own  fickle- 
ness. I  had  but  little  trouble  in  curing  myself  of  a 
passion  which  was  not  founded  upon  respect ;  perhaps 
even,  but  for  the  pleasure  of  enraging  the  Limb  of  the 
Law,  I  should  have  retired  sooner. 

"  The  love-affair  I  had  had  with  the  actress  had  not 
prevented  my  going  much  into  society,  and  I  may 
venture  to  say  that  I  shone  with  some  success  in  a 
land  where  all  that  is  not  French  is  easily  considered 
barbaric.'" 

In  succession  to  St.  John,  the  Duke  of  Shrewsbury, 
a  favourite  and  distinguished  statesman  under  Anne 
and  George  I,  was  sent  as  English  envoy  to  Paris.  But 
he  did  not  spend  much  money,  or  make  a  great  show  in 
any  way,  for  he  was  blind  with  one  eye  and  unimposing. 
'*  But  for  the  Order  of  the  Garter  he  wore,"  Pollnitz 


100  A  VAGABOND  COUETIER 

would  hardly  have  taken  hun  for  a  nobleman.  His  wife 
was  an  Italian,  Adelhida,  sister  of  the  Marquis  Pagliotti, 
*'  celebrated  for  his  extravagances  and  his  tragic  end 
in  England/'  and  she  cut  the  oddest  figure  at  Court. 

After  being  presented  to  the  King,  "  she  came  on  to 
see  Madame,  where  she  found  a  large  company  as- 
sembled out  of  curiosity  to  see  her.  It  was  there  that 
I  had  the  honour  of  meeting  her.  At  first  she  seemed  as 
embarrassed  as  if  she  had  never  lived  in  a  Court,  but 
gradually  she  grew  more  lively,  talked  well,  and  with 
wit. 

"  That  same  evening  Madame  Shrewsbury  was  present 
at  the  King's  supper ;  she  was  placed  in  the  row  of 
Duchesses  immediately  behind  the  Due  de  Berri.  She 
talked  a  great  deal  to  this  Prince,  though  she  had  only 
seen  him  for  a  moment  at  the  Duchesse,  his  wife's. 
Nevertheless,  all  supper-time,  she  kept  pulling  him  by 
the  sleeve  to  warn  him  not  to  eat  too  much.  Every  one 
was  amused  at  this  familiarity,  and  I  noticed  that  M.  le 
Due  de  Berri  was  not  a  little  embarrassed  by  it. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  the  King  treated  her  with  a 
politeness  which  verged  on  scrupulosity.  He  had  come 
to  table  and  passed  her  without  seeing  her.  As  he  was 
sitting  down  M.  de  Livry,  the  first  maitre  d' hotel,  informed 
him  that  Madame  I'Ambassadrice  d'Angleterre  was 
present  at  his  supper.  The  King  instantly  returned  to 
the  place  where  she  was,  and  said  that  he  had  passed 
her  without  bowing  to  her  because  he  had  not  noticed 
her,  and  that  he  thought  she  would  have  been  tired 
with  all  the  visits  she  had  paid  that  day  and  would 
have  retired.  The  King  begged  her  to  go  and  rest, 
but  she  excused  herself,  saying  no  one  was  ever  tired 
when  they  were  able  to  pay  their  respects  to  such  a 
great  King  as  His  Majesty." 

One  day  Pollnitz  was  at  the  Hotel  de  Soissons,  where 
the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Shrewsbury  were  staying. 
A  pleasure-loving  Duchess  was  using  every  means  to 


THE  VAGRANT  101 

persuade  the  ambassadress  to  give  a  ball.  **  For  Lady 
Shrewsbury  had  that  in  common  with  her  husband, 
she  did  not  like  expense."  In  vain  the  Duchess  dis- 
coursed on  sorrows  and  bereavements,  on  the  anxiety  of 
years  of  war,  in  France,  and  said  that  every  one  hoped 
that  the  ambassadress  who  brought  peace  would  also 
bring  about  the  return  of  amusements  to  dispel  sadness. 
Lady  Shrewsbury  only  replied  that  she  quite  hoped  that 
people  in  Paris  would  amuse  themselves,  but  that  it 
appeared  to  her  that  the  happy  tidings  Lord  Shrewsbury 
brought  were  quite  enough  to  remove  the  gloom  of  past 
misfortunes  without  it  being  asked  of  him  to  arrange 
other  amusements.  "  So  there  was  no  hope  of  a  ball 
from  that  quarter." 

The  reader  will,  no  doubt,  "  be  surprised  to  hear 
who  it  was,  instead  of  the  English  ambassador,  who 
gave  the  first  ball.  It  was  I  who  awoke  Paris  out  of  the 
lethargy  into  which  it  seemed  to  have  fallen.  I  gave 
a  dance  at  the  Carneaux,  or,  rather,  Mesdames  de  la 

M D ,  and  de  V gave  it  for  me.      These 

Ladies  had  asked  me  for  a  dance  most  politely.  At  first 
I  had  begged  to  be  excused,  as  a  Foreigner,  in  that  it  was 
not  for  me  to  set  fetes  going,  especially  upon  the  occasion 
of  a  Peace  which  could  be  of  no  advantage  to  me. 
Besides  which,  other  reasons,  somewhat  to  the  taste  of 
Madame  de  Shrewsbury,  prevented  me  consenting  to 
the  expense  of  a  Ball  which  I  foresaw  would  cost  me  a 
great  deal.  These  reasons  were  listened  to  readily 
enough,  but  yet,  as  those  Ladies  absolutely  intended  to 
have  a  ball,  they  suggested  to  me  to  give  them  only  ten 
louis  [under  £10],  assuring  me  that  with  that  sum  the 
ball  could  be  given,  without  my  having  anything  more 
to  do  except  tell  people  at  the  Opera  and  the  Theatre 
that  there  would  be  a  dance  at  Carneaux  on  such  a  day. 
This  I  did  not  fail  to  do,  and  I  found  people  everywhere 
ready  to  come  to  this  assembly.  On  their  part,  the 
ladies  hired  the  great  hall  at  the  Carneaux,  which  they 
had  splendidly  lighted    up ;    they  sent  a  fairly  good 


102  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

band,  and  had  the  Ball  opened  by  their  Waiting-women 
and  Valets. 

"  That  evening  I  supped  with  the  Ladies,  to  whom 
I  confessed,  ingenuously  enough,  that  I  did  not  know 
what  sort  of  a  sum  such  a  Ball  would  cost  in  Paris. 
After  having  joked  about  it  for  a  long  time,  we  had 
ourselves  carried  thither  in  our  chairs  after  supper,  and 
never  in  my  life  have  I  seen  so  many  Masqueraders.  We 
were  carried  from  the  door  of  the  Courtyard  right  into 
the  Hall,  which  was  hot  enough  to  kill  one,  and  it  was 
impossible  to  know  to  whom  to  apply  for  a  drop  of 
water.  Every  one  was  swearing  at  the  Ball,  and  at  him 
who  had  given  it.  Happily  no  one  knew  who  bore  the 
burden  of  such  a  Fete.  However,  I  had  taken  the  pre- 
caution of  having  some  refreshments  brought  for  the 
Ladies  I  was  escorting,  and  they  were  not  unneeded. 
This  Ball  whetted  my  appetite  for  giving  another  ten  or 
twelve  of  this  kind  of  Entertainment,  also  devoid  of 
refreshments.  Yet,  in  spite  of  the  thirst  which  the 
company  suffered,  and  of  the  imprecations  I  overheard 
against  the  Donor,  there  was  always  an  innumerable 
crowd  of  Masqueraders. 

"...  Thus  I  spent  my  time  in  Paris.  I  frequented 
the  best  society  and  the  heau  monde;  I  played  with 
some  luck,  which  enabled  me,  with  what  I  received  from 
home,  to  live  in  princely  fashion.  Every  day  I  made 
new  acquaintances,  who  gave  me  fresh  amusements.'' 

Though  the  sad  news  he  had  heard  of  the  death  of  his 
sovereign,  and  of  the  complete  change  in  the  regime  of 
the  Prussian  Court,  showed  Pollnitz,  to  his  sorrow,  that 
there  was  nothing  more  to  be  hoped  for  in  his  own 
country,  his  grief,  though  sincere,  did  not  last  long. 

*'  I  had  not,  indeed,  a  brilliant  career  to  look  forward 
to,  but  my  extreme  youth  made  me  sanguine  enough  to 
believe  that  I  could  not  but  get  on.  My  birth  and  my 
position  also  reassured  me,  and,  moreover,  to  be  quite 
frank  about  the  situation  in  which  I  found  myself,  I 


THE  VAGRANT  103 

was  in  love,  and  at  Paris,  a  reason  specious  enough  to 
dispel  any  prolonged  melancholy. 

"  It  was  at  the  fair  at  S.  Germains  that  I  contracted 
this  new  amourette.  I  had  no  reason  to  blush  over  my 
choice,  and  might  flatter  myself  to  have  found  every- 
thing that  could  satisfy  a  gallant.  I  abandoned  myself 
entirely  to  my  new  passion,  and,  as  I  was  naturally 
inclined  to  be  extravagant,  I  spent  so  lavishly  that  my 
friends  were  frightened.  Carriages,  clothes,  liveries,  all 
were  of  the  utmost  splendour ;  the  presents  I  gave 
frequently  were  very  handsome.  Very  soon  I  found 
myself  obliged  to  consider  seriously  how  I  was  going 
on.     I  had  only  myself  to  blame,  for  Mademoiselle  de 

S (this  was  the  name  of  my  adored  one)  would 

certainly  have  been  content  with  a  less  extravagant 
lover,  so  that,  with  a  little  economy,  I  could  have  cut 
a  fairly  fine  figure  in  Paris.  But  my  new  passion 
prevented  me  from  looking  closely  into  my  affairs. 
They  got  into  such  a  bad  state  that  I  found  myself 
obliged  to  consider  a  journey  home.  Very  hard  did  I 
find  it  to  fix  the  date  of  a  departure  which  I  could  not 
contemplate  without  sorrow.  My  dear  mistress  and 
her  mother,  on  the  other  hand,  both  melting  into  tears, 
urged  me  to  set  about  this  most  imperative  journey. 
The  one  wished  it  for  my  good,  the  other  for  her 
daughter's  sake  ;  for  this  good  mother  was  as  eager 
about  the  money  as  her  daughter  was  disinterested."' 

At  last  the  sad  day  came.  PoUnitz  left  without  any 
farewells  except  to  Madame  and  the  Duke  of  Orleans. 
As  he  expected  to  be  absent  for  so  short  a  time,  he 
left  all  his  people  behind  and  took  with  him  only  one 
servant,  who  knew  all  about  his  affairs. 

At  five  in  the  same  evening  he  reached  Eoye,  in 
Picardy,  and  was  delayed  there  waiting  for  post-horses, 
for  the  Spanish  ambassador,  going  to  the  congress  at 
Utrecht,  had  taken  them  all.  Therefore  he  decided  to 
drive  on  with  those  he  had,  and  stopped  at  a  wretched 
inn  between  Roye  and  Peronne.    His  aching  head  was 


104  A  VAGABOND  COUETIER 

so  full  of  agitating  thoughts  and  worries  and  conflicting 
emotions,  that  he  did  the  best  thing  in  the  circumstances, 
and  went  straight  to  bed. 

But  in  bed  it  was  worse,  for  he  gave  himself  up  to  his 
sorrow.  One  moment  he  longed  to  go  back  to  Paris, 
where  love  called.  The  next  he  felt  the  sad  necessity 
of  proceeding  on  his  journey.  A  thousand  different 
thoughts  succeeded  each  other. 

"  At  last,  after  long  debate,  I  decided  to  return  to 
Paris.  It  was  two  hours  after  midnight  when  I  came 
to  this  mad  resolve.  I  rose  at  once,  and  called  my 
valet ;  but,  as  he  was  in  a  separate  building  to  me,  I 
thought  that,  instead  of  losing  time  calling  for  him,  I 
had  better  go  and  wake  him  myself.  So  I  left  my  room. 
Unfortunately  for  me,  I  had  not  noticed,  or,  rather,  in 
my  agitation  I  did  not  remember,  that  the  door  of  my 
room  opened  on  to  a  gallery  which  ran  round  the  house. 
This  balcony  was  in  course  of  construction,  and  there 
had  not  been  time  to  put  up  a  balustrade,  so  that,  before 
I  had  gone  two  paces,  I  turned  as  good  a  somersault  as 
I  have  ever  turned  in  my  life. 

**  I  fell  into  the  courtyard,  but,  by  good  luck,  lighted 
upon  a  dung-hill,  which  saved  me  from  being  hurt,  or 
perhaps  killed.  I  had  no  further  harm  than  the  shock 
and  the  finding  myself  on  as  disgusting  a  mattress  as 
one  can  imagine. 

"  My  worst  difficulty  was  then  how  to  get  out  of  where 
I  was  and  back  into  my  room.  The  night  was  so  dark, 
and  I  knew  so  little  of  the  house,  that  I  had  no  hope 
of  extricating  myself  alone.  So  I  began  to  call  my 
valet  with  all  my  might.  The  rascal  took  care  not  to 
hear  me.  A  little  later  I  was  made  aware  that  he  had 
got  drunk,  and  was  sleeping  off  his  wine  in  a  deep 
slumber.  Finding  that  I  had  to  do  with  a  deaf  man, 
I  betook  myself  to  calling  over,  in  a  loud  shout,  the 
names  of  Marie,  Catherine,  Jeanne,  and  others,  hoping 
that  there  was  some  servant-maid  in  the  house  whom 
this  name  would  suit. 


THE  VAGRANT  105 

**  I  was  right.  One  came  to  my  rescue,  but  the  girl, 
taking  me  for  a  ghost,  gave  a  scream  of  '  Jesu-Marie  !  ' 
and  disappeared  instantly. 

"  I  was  in  a  great  dilemma  ;  from  the  way  things 
were  going  I  foresaw  that  I  should  have  to  pass  the 
rest  of  my  night  on  my  dung-hill,  waiting  patiently 
till  the  house  woke  up.  I  dreaded  this  misadventure 
all  the  more  because,  though  it  was  summer-time,  the 
nights  were  cold,  and  I  had  nothing  on  but  a  silk 
dressing-gown. 

"  So  I  began  to  shout  and  to  swear  again,  so  much  so 
that,  at  last,  some  of  the  household  came  running  to 
see  what  was  happening,  but  each  one,  following  the 
example  of  the  maid-servant,  thought  I  was  a  ghost 
and  dared  not  come  near  me. 

"  All  this  noise  at  last  awoke  my  valet,  who  came 
running  in  his  shirt.  At  first  he  thought  that  I  was 
being  murdered,  but  when  I  told  him  to  have  the  horses 
put  to  my  chaise,  he  concluded  that  I  had  gone  off  my 
head.  I  reiterated  the  order  to  him  to  have  the  chaise 
got  ready  that  I  might  leave  at  once.  My  valet,  who 
could  not  get  over  the  amazement  an  order  of  this  sort 
caused  him,  said  to  me  : 

"  '  Ha  !  Monsieur,  be  easy  ;  it  is  now  only  two  in  the 
morning.     At  five  you  shall  start." 

"As  he  was  one  of  those  valets  who  readily  grow 
familiar  with  masters  who  treat  them  kindly,  he  flatly 
refused  to  obey  me  ;  he  replied  that  I  did  not  mean 
it,  and  that,  because  I  could  not  sleep,  I  wanted  to 
prevent  others  doing  so  ;  that  in  the  daytime  I  was 
dragged  along  in  a  good  chaise,  and  he,  most  of  the 
time,  on  very  bad  horses  ;  that  the  long  and  short  of 
it  was,  that  he  wanted  to  go  to  bed,  and  that  he  would 
not  start  until  he  had  had  another  two  hours'  sleep  and 
a  good  breakfast. 

"  I  was  minded  to  get  angry,  but,  seeing  that  that 
would  have  no  effect,  we  compromised  our  own  difference 
of  opinion  ;  he  gave  way  to  me  in  that  he  should  not 
go  to  bed  again,  and  I  allowed  him  to  have  some  break- 


106  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

fast.  When  he  thought  fit  to  have  finished,  I  got  into 
my  chaise  and  ordered  the  postillion  to  take  the  Paris 
road. 

"  Then  it  was  that  my  valet  thought  that  I  had  quite 
taken  leave  of  my  senses  ;  he  told  me  that  I  was  making 
a  mistake,  and  that  it  was  the  road  to  the  Low  Countries 
that  we  were  to  take.  I  told  him  to  hold  his  tongue 
and  to  start.  The  poor  fellow,  even  more  sure  than 
ever  that  I  had  gone  mad,  became  very  anxious  indeed  ; 
at  each  change  of  horses  he  came  to  the  window  of  my 
chaise  with  a  sorrowful  look  on  his  face,  and  asked  me 
how  I  did,  and  if  I  required  anything. 

"  At  last  I  reached  Paris.  All  those  who  had  known 
that  I  was  leaving  were  very  astonished  at  seeing  me 
back  again.  I  made  believe  that  I  had  felt  very  unwell, 
and  had  returned  for  fear  of  falling  ill,  preferring  to 
be  ill  in  Paris  to  anywhere  else.  No  one  would  believe 
me  ;  they  thought  affaires  de  cwur  were  the  only  cause 
of  my  precipitate  return. 

"  I  stayed  three  months  in  Paris,  and  all  that  time 
I  did  not  go  to  Versailles.  I  was  afraid  of  Madame, 
who  *  did  not  like  follies  ' ;  on  my  part  I  did  not  like 
lectures,  so  that  I  thought  it  wiser  to  keep  away. 

"  However,  the  same  reasons  which  determined  me 
to  go  home  the  first  time  still  held  good,  and  I  at  last 
left  Paris  again,  having  made  up  my  mind,  however, 
to  be  away  as  short  a  time  as  I  possibly  could.'* 


CHAPTER   VI 

PoLLNiTZ  went  by  way  of  Brussels  to  Breda,  one  of  the 
most  important  fortresses  in  the  Dutch  Brabant,  and 
thence,  crossing  the  Waal  at  Gorkum,  to  Utrecht — 

*'  A  city  with  a  very  ancient  look.  I  fancy  the  walls 
of  Jericho,  which  fell  at  the  sound  of  the  redoubtable 
trumpets  of  Israel,  resembled  those  of  this  town.  ...  A 
pleasant  place,  well  built,  with  cheerful  streets,  and 
better  air  than  elsewhere  in  Holland,  as  it  is  less  relax- 
ing." After  The  Hague  Utrecht,  "  the  best  residence 
for  a  gentleman ;  many  nobility  and  rich  private  people." 

Peace  had  been  signed,  but  the  Congress  was  still 
sitting.  Puns,  he  found,  were  going  round  about  the 
three  treaties  of  peace  which  had  recently  been  concluded 
in  the  United  Provinces.  Nijmegen,  they  said,  meant 
**  take  everything,"  Ryswick,  "  seize  everything,"  and 
Utrecht,  "  out  of  right."  "  If  one  considers  things," 
commented  Pollnitz,  "  this  might  be  fairly  true  ;  but 
the  punsters  would  not  be  on  the  side  of  the  Allies." 

Directly  the  Baron  reached  Utrecht  he  went  to  call  on 
the  Prussian  envoys.  Counts  Dohnhof,  Metternich,  and 
Biberstein,  to  hear  news  of  the  Fatherland.  There  were  no 
inns  in  Utrecht,  and  the  envoys  were  very  poorly  lodged, 
and  that  not  for  lack  of  paying  for  it,  for  several  of  them 
might  have  bought  the  homes  they  occupied  for  what 
they  paid  in  rent  during  the  time  of  their  mission." 

Pollnitz  found  another  old  friend,  or  rather,  enemy, 
at  Utrecht.  The  Countess  Wartenberg  had  retired 
thither  after  her  husband's  death  at  Frankfurt.  If 
King  Frederic  had  wept  when  his  old  friend's  funeral 

107 


108  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

passed  the  Schloss,  "  the  Countess  had  been  more  self- 
possessed,  and  was  careful  to  give  way  to  no  sad  thoughts. 
On  the  contrary,"  comments  Pollnitz,  "  she  was  pleased 
at  finding  herself  in  possession  of  great  wealth,  and, 
what  pleased  her  even  more,  at  being  her  own  mistress/' 

Utrecht  being  for  the  time  the  gayest  city  she  could 
find,  she  took  up  her  residence  there,  and  embarked  in 

intrigues.     Chevalier  de  B had  been  her  friend  of 

the  moment,  and  he  had  just  left  to  carry  the  terms  of 
peace  to  Paris. 

Pollnitz  did  not  trouble  himself  to  call  upon  the 
daughter  of  the  Rhine  boatman,  especially  as  he  found 
he  would  have  been  the  only  one  of  the  Prussian  Court 
then  at  Utrecht  to  pay  her  any  civility.  However,  by 
chance  they  met.  She  had  brought  with  her  a  young 
French  lady  whom  he  had  known  well  in  Berlin.  As 
the  latter  was  very  amusing,  and  as  he  was  anxious  to 
glean  some  gossip  of  the  Countess's  doings,  he  renewed 
his  acquaintance  while  quite  declining  to  call  upon  the 
Wartenberg.  '*  However,  the  young  lady  took  upon 
herself  to  inform  the  Countess  of  my  visit,  and  to  tell 
that  she  thought  I  much  resembled  the  Chevalier  de 

B ,"    This  was  enough.     The  Countess,  despite  his 

refusals,  wished  to  see  him.  So,  one  day,  when  he  was 
calling  on  the  young  lady,  she  came  into  the  room. 
**  As  you  are  too  haughty,"  she  began,  "  to  come  and  see 
me,  I  come  to  see  you,"  and,  without  giving  him  time 
to  reply,  continued  :   "  You  are  much  improved  in  looks. 

You  are  like  the  Chevalier  de  B as  two  peas ;  the 

most  perfect  resemblance,  even  to  the  very  voice  !  '* 

"  Nothing,"  says  Pollnitz,  "  was  less  true.  The  Com- 
mander was  handsome  and  well-made,  and  I  was  never 
foolish  enough  to  think  myself  that."  All  these  com- 
pliments of  the  Countess  seemed  so  odd  that  he  was 
**  as  embarrassed  as  a  schoolboy  just  left  college,"  and 
hardly  knew  what  he  was  saying.  He  gave  her  his 
hand  to  escort  her  back  to  her  rooms,  where,  but  for 
the  timely  announcement  of  a  visitor,  one  of  the  French 
plenipotentiaries,  "  without  taking  upon  myself  the  air 


THE  VAGRANT  109 

of  a  man  of  honne  fortmie,  or  of  an  indiscret,  it  would 
only  have  depended  upon  myself  to  have  been  taken 
for  the  Chevalier,  body  and  soul."  After  this  kind  of 
visit  he  arranged  matters  so  as  to  avoid  a  similar  one 
during  the  short  time  he  stayed  at  Utrecht. 

Thence  he  went  by  Wesel  to  Magdeburg  and  Branden- 
burg, to  Berlin. 

"  On  the  day  I  arrived  I  was  so  tired  at  having 
travelled  night  and  day  that  I  stayed  in  bed  till  the 
evening,  when  I  had  the  honour  of  saluting  the  Queen ; 
.  .  .  the  King  was  at  Potsdam.  Her  Majesty  still 
kept  her  room,  as  she  had  not  yet  got  up  after  her  con- 
finement. ...  I  was  received  with  a  coldness  which  led 
me  to  judge  that  I  could  not  hope  to  be  in  favour  at 
Court,  or,  at  least  to  be  in  harmony  with  its  tone.  It 
was  not  the  same  with  the  Mesdames  the  Margraves ; 
they  received  me  with  every  possible  expression  of 
kindness.  Madame  la  Margrave  Dowager  "  (Philip  of 
Schwedt's  widow)  "  especially  assured  me  that  she  would 
continue  the  protection  with  which  she  had  always 
honoured  me.  As  for  the  city  of  Berlin,  it  had  not 
recovered  from  the  loss  it  has  sustained  in  the  death  of 
King  Frederic"  ("the  gute  Herr,"  his  granddaughter 
writes),  "  regretted  and  wept  by  the  whole  kingdom. 
The  King,  his  son,  indeed  gives  rise  to  great  hopes ;  but 
the  changes  he  has  introduced  in  the  Court  make  people 
regret  the  late  King." 

Pomp  and  circumstance  had  vanished.  The  flowing 
perukes  gave  place  to  helmets.  All  who  wished  to 
curry  favour  with  the  new  King  donned,  as  his  daughter 
puts  it,  "  sword  and  cuirass."  Frederic  William's  one 
passion  was  for  soldiers.  His  father,  he  averred,  "  kept 
no  sword  with  which  to  enforce  his  pen."    So — 

"  He  reduced  his  household  accordingly,  and  at  once, 
to  the  lowest  footing  of  the  indispensable,  and  discharged 
a  whole  regiment  of  superfluous  official  persons,  court 


110  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

flunkeys — inferior,  superior,  supreme — in  the  most  ruth- 
less manner.  He  does  not  intend  keeping  any  Oherhof- 
marschall,  or  the  Hke  idle  person,  henceforth ;  thinks  a 
minimum  of  gold-sticks  ought  to  suffice  every  man  .  .  . 
eight  lackeys  at  six  shillings  a  week,  three  active  pages, 
instead  of  three  dozen  idle  ones  .  .  .  thirty  saddle- 
horses,  instead  of  a  thousand  .  .  .  shaved  down  every- 
thing to  half  a  thaler.  Even  the  incomes  of  the  Royal 
Family  he  cut  down,  and  only  kept  ten  thousand  a  year 
for  himself." 

Small  chance  for  poor  young  Baron  von  Pollnitz  ! 
Despite  their  boyhood's  comradeship  in  the  mimic 
regiment  and  the  French  theatricals,  our  butterfly  hero 
at  once  perceived  that  he  had  nothmg  in  common  with, 
or  to  hope  for,  from  Frederic  William.  For  years  to 
come  this  indeed  was  the  case.  Then  the  levelling  hand 
of  Time  asserted  itself. 

Pollnitz  beat  a  retreat  from  Berlin.  He  decided  to 
settle  his  money  matters  as  speedily  as  possible,  and 
then  to  hie  him  back  to  the  more  congenial  atmosphere 
of  Paris. 

He  went  to  Zell  to  look  into  accounts  with  the  lawyer 
to  whom  he  had  entrusted  his  interests  in  his  mother's 
estates.  There  he  found  matters  anything  but  to  his 
liking.  Countess  von  Wense  had  bequeathed  the 
greater  part  of  her  fortune  to  the  children  of  her  third 
marriage,  so  that  Charles  came  into  very  much  less 
than  he  had  expected.  This  was  a  great  blow,  in  view 
of  debts  in  Paris,  and  fine  plans  for  a  gay  life  there 
in  the  future.  All  Charles  could  look  forward  to  was 
the  reversion  of  his  grandfather's  property  which  was 
settled  on  his  brother,  and  the  stony-hearted  cousin, 
Henrietta  Charlotte,  at  Hanover. 

From  Zell  Pollnitz  went  to  Hamburg.  He  had  been 
there  as  a  boy,  but  had  not  seen  the  sights.  Life  in  that 
wealthy  city  was  more  lively  than  in  the  other  Hanseatic 
towns,  and  he  spent  some  days  pleasantly  enough. 
Most  of  the  German  Princes  had  residents  at  Hamburg, 


THE   VAGKANT  IH 

who  kept  up  a  fairly  good  opera  all  the  year  round. 
Each  of  these  envoys  attended  to  one  department  of 
it,  "  so  that  one  saw  M.  d'A.  presiding  at  rehearsals ; 
M.  de  W.  arranging  the  ballets  ;  M.  S.  ordering  dresses, 
wigs,  rouge,  and  patches  for  the  actresses/' 

The  Dutch  gardens,  just  without  the  gates,  were  a 
great  joy  to  the  inhabitants,  the  promenades  charming, 
especially  that  on  the  Alster  basin,  tree-planted,  with  a 
double  avenue  commanding  a  fine  view  of  the  river  and 
the  country-houses  in  gardens,  and  woods  and  meadows. 
There  were  several  well-born  people  to  be  known — 

"  Where  one  is  well  received,  and  one  has  good  com- 
pany, sees  a  good  deal  of  each  other,  dines,  sups,  and 
lives  well.  The  merchants  are  affable  and  polite,  and 
travelled.  All  that  I  find  to  say  against  them  is  that 
they  treat  their  wives  after  the  fashion  of  the  East, 
where  the  women  go  nowhere  except  to  the  mosques. 
Here,  they  hardly  go  anywhere  except  to  the  churches, 
or,  if  they  go  for  a  walk,  it  is  accompanied  by  their 
husbands.  A  stranger  is  rarely  admitted  to  their 
assemblies ;  when  he  puts  in  an  appearance  these  poor 
women  are  quite  surprised,  as  a  Sultana  might  be  on 
seeing  a  Capuchin  enter  the  harem.'' 

Pollnitz  made  the  acquaintance  of  a  Herr  Brocks,  a 
magistrate  and  a  poet.  "  His  works  do  him  honour, 
and  should  convince  a  stranger  who  understands  German 
that  one  can  say  as  fine  things  in  that  language  as  in 
any  other,"  adds  the  Baron,  with  an  unwonted  praise 
of  his  native  language  as  a  literary  vehicle,  which  he 
failed,  however,  to  put  in  practice  himself. 

"  A  cannon-shot  from  Hamburg  lies  Altona,"  in  Danish 
Holstein,  "  notable,"  thought  Pollnitz,  "  for  the  variety 
of  its  religious  edifices  and  for  offering  an  asylum  to 
bankrupts."  The  name,  meaning  "  all  too  near," 
given  in  derision  by  a  King  of  Denmark  to  protesting 
Hamburg  councillors  when  he  was  building  the  city  at 
their  gates.     Only  the  year  before  Pollnitz's  visit  it  had 


112  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

been  burnt  by  the  Swedes,  and  still  lay  desolate.  He 
left  Hamburg  only  just  in  time,  for  a  few  days  later  the 
plague  broke  out  there,  and  the  Elector  of  Hanover 
forced  the  city  to  put  itself  in  quarantine. 

Pollnitz  drove  the  twelve  miles  across  the  moors  to 
Zell,  over  a  shocking  road,  and,  without  stopping  there, 
to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  arriving  in  time  for  the  famous 
exhibition  of  the  relics,  which  only  takes  place  once 
every  seven  years.  "  The  ceremony  was  held  on  the 
top  of  the  Tower  of  the  city,  while  the  people  knelt  in 
the  square  below,  and  in  the  adjoining  streets,  for  only 
people  of  quality  are  allowed  on  the  Tower  and  to  inspect, 
but  not  touch,  the  relics."  From  all  the  provinces  of 
Germany,  even  from  distant  Hungary  and  the  Tyrol, 
had  pilgrims  journeyed.  "The  only  reward  these  poor 
people  had  was  spying  these  things  from  afar.  The 
city  of  Aix  feasts  them,  but  mostly  they  return  without 
knowing  what  they  have  seen.'' 

Our  hero  was  not  superstitiously  inclined,  and  the  holy 
relics  made  but  little  impression  upon  him.  He  only 
remembers — 

"  A  chemise  which,  they  assure  me,  belonged  to  the 
Virgin.  The  marks  one  sees  on  it  are  those  said  to  be 
of  the  milk  when  she  was  suckling  the  Saviour  of  the 
world.  This  chemise  seemed  to  me  to  be  without  seam, 
and  of  a  material  which  I  cannot  well  describe,  for  it 
was  neither  linen  nor  cotton.'" 

Nor  was  he  more  credulous  as  to  the  "  extraordinary 
story  of  the  resurrection  of  S.  Manolph  and  S.  Goudulph 
at  the  consecration,  in  the  presence  of  Charlemagne,  by 
Leo  III  of  the  Church  of  Our  Lady,"  despite  the  "  au- 
thentic testimony  "  to  it  in  the  church  of  Maestricht, 
"  for  it  seemed  to  me,  without  desiring  to  penetrate  this 
mystery,  that  if  these  two  bishops  really  were  saints  it 
was  useless  for  the  Pope  to  give  them  the  Benediction, 
as  they  were  older  saints  than  the  Holy  Eather/' 


THE  VAGRANT  113 

It  was  as  a  fashionable  watering-place  that  Aix 
appealed  to  the  gay  young  Baron,  rather  than  as  a 
holy  city. 

"  Of  all  the  place  where  one  takes  the  baths,  none  is 
more  pleasantly  situated  than  Aix,  surrounded  by  hills 
forming  a  pretty  valley.  One  is  excellently  fed  and 
lodged  there.  At  Bougy's  house,  near  the  springs,  the 
Royalties  of  Denmark  and  their  suites  were  well  lodged. 
During  the  summer  the  assemblies  and  balls  take  place 
there.  The  town  of  Aix  is  famous  for  its  hot  baths, 
and  the  waters  which  are  drunk  twice  a  year,  in  spring 
and  autumn.  At  these  two  seasons  a  great  number  of 
visitors  arrive.  The  waters  are  hot  and  have  a  very 
bad  taste  ;  they  smell  of  rotten  eggs,  which  makes  it 
difficult  to  take  them  the  first  day,  but  after  that  one 
becomes  used  to  them,  and  they  do  one  good.  The 
Baths  are  excellent  for  the  shrinkage  of  nerves  and  for 
wounds.  There  is  no  place  where  one  can  drink  the 
waters  more  comfortably ;  one  finds  in  abundance  all 
one  can  desire,  and,  above  all,  good  company ;  the 
vicinity  of  Brabant,  Liege,  France,  Holland,  and  Ger- 
many attracts  a  great  deal  of  society,  and  thus  one 
amuses  oneself  very  well  indeed." 

His  experiences  at  Aix  he  was,  in  later  years,  to  turn 
to  good  account. 

Pollnitz  went  on  from  Aix  through  Maestricht  and 
Louvain,  and  reached  his  Mecca  "  more  in  love  than 
ever.  I  was  received  by  my  beloved  with  every  mark 
of  affection,  which  led  me  to  believe  that  I  was  the 
happiest  of  mortals.  I  was  indeed,  because,  till  then, 
my  happiness  consisted  in  being  in  her  favour.  But 
my  natural  fickleness  soon  altered  my  opinion.'' 

"  I  met  the  Marquise  de  P ."    Pollnitz  is  really 

tantalizing  with  his  mysterious  initials.  Was  it  the 
fascinating  de  Prie,  mistress  of  the  Due  de  Bourbon, 
"extraordinarily  pretty  and  a  good  figure,"  tells  Saint- 

1—8 


114  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

Simon,  "  with  much  wit,  and  astonishingly  well-read  ?  " 
Or  the  Regent's  "  little  black  crow,  whose  heart  was 
never  vacant,"  the  Marquisede  Parabere,  ''who,"  his 
mother  writes,  "  retails  follies  which  amuse  my  son 
and  make  him  forget  his  work  " ;  .  .  .  "a  drunkard  "  ? 
Or  again,  the  dainty  little  Marquise  de  Polignac,  who 
out-heroded  them  all  in  "  the  disordered  mad  life  at 
Paris,  which  became  daily,"  Madame  thought,  "  more 
hateful  and  more  horrible  "  ;  the  Polignac  to  whom  the 
son  of  the  Turkish  ambassador  said  that  her  reputation 
had  reached  even  to  Constantinople — "and  I  see, 
Madame,  that  we  were  told  the  truth."  Not  one  of 
these  ladies  but  might  have  cast  a  favouring,  though 
passing,  glance  on  the  attractive  young  German  Baron. 

He  "  ingenuously  confesses  that  all  my  deep  feelings 

for  S cooled  down.     I  found  that  nothing  could 

equal  my  passion.  S soon  discovered  my  incon- 
stancy and  reproached  me  with  it ;  but  reproached  me 
without  the  bitterness  which  love  alone  can  inspire. 
My  passion  awake  again,  and  I  felt  on  this  occasion  : 

"  Qu'une  flamme  mal  eteinte 
Est  facile  a  allumer, 
Et  qu'aveo  peu  de  contrainte. 
On  recommence  d'aimer." 

"  My  feelings  as  a  gentleman  coincided  with  those  of 
affection.     I  asked  myself  what  cause  for  dissatisfaction 

could  I  have  had  with  S .     At  last  I  came  to  the 

conclusion  against  myself,  as  it  were,  that,  without 
ingratitude,  I  could  not  give  up  such  a  sweet  charmer. 
I  took  measures  gradually  to  withdraw  from  the  Mar- 
quise de  P .     I  had  little  trouble  in  stifling  a  passion, 

which,  after  all,  was,  so  to  say,  but  a  flash  in  the  pan." 

Pollnitz  made  a  few  months'  stay  in  Paris,  which  was 
gay  at  this  time  with  a  great  double  royal  wedding — 
between  the  Bourbons  and  Contis. 

But  the  hero  of  the  hour  was  Marshal  Villars,  the 


THE  VAGRANT  115 

victor  of  Denain,  "  whose  two  victories  and  one  success  " 
at  the  end  of  the  war  had  been  as  balm  in  Gilead  to  the 
wounded  pride  of  the  French. 

"  Clear-minded,  clever,  supple,  hard-working,  brave, 
a  fine  soldier  and  a  lucky  cap  tarn,  he  was,''  says  Pollnitz. 
"  Slander  added  that  he  was  avaricious,  like  the  Duke 
of  Marlborough,  and  proud.  I  saw  something  of  that. 
The  Marshal  was  dining  with  D'Argenson,  Grand 
Equerry  of  France  ;  I  was  present/'  The  jovial-faced, 
well-set-up  veteran,  with  his  bright  brown  eyes,  a  great 
talker,  held  forth  on  his  exploits.  He  had  returned 
from  the  campaign  with  much  loot.  Pollnitz  listened 
attentively. 

"  He  noticed  that  I  was  observing  him  ;  he  did  not 
know  who  I  was.  He  asked  M.  le  Grand  Ecuyer  in  a 
whisper.  Then  the  Marechal,  hearing  that  I  was  a 
German,  said  some  civil  things.  After  that  he  went  on 
with  his  conversation,  and,  speaking  to  me  of  his  victory 
at  Denain,  in  a  tone  which  showed  great  satisfaction, 
asked  :  '  But  why  did  your  people  drown  themselves  ? 
I  am  merciful,  I  would  have  given  them  quarter ;  they 
should  have  asked  me  for  it.' 

"  I  confess  that  my  Teutonic  honour  over-mastered 
me.  The  terms  of  '  clemency '  and  '  quarter '  seemed 
to  me  insulting  to  my  nation.  I  was  young  and  rash ; 
I  very  nearly  made  him  an  unsuitable  reply.  But  I 
recollected  myself,  and  only  at  the  second  or  third 
attack  did  I  at  last  answer  him,  '  that  it  seemed  to  me 
that  he  should  not  be  surprised  at  what  the  German 
troops  had  done,  because,  till  the  day  of  Denain,  they 
had  known  of  his  valour,  but  had  not  experienced  his 
clemency.' 

*'  I  saw  that  my  reply  did  not  please  him  ;  he  changed 
the  conversation,  and  did  not  speak  to  me  again  all  the 
day. 

"  Some  time  after  the  peace,  I  made  it  up  with  him. 
It  was  at  the  Duchesse  de  Lude's,  lady-in-waiting  to 
the  Duchesse  de  Bourgogne.    There  was  a  large  com- 


116  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

pany,  the  Marechal  de  Villars  among  others.  Con- 
versation turned  on  the  custom  of  the  ancients  to  give 
surnames  to  their  heroes,  and  we  blamed  the  moderns 
for  not  imitating  them.  '  And  what  name  should  we 
give  M.  le  Marechal  ?  '  said  the  Duchesse  de  Lude. 

"  I  spoke,  and  said  :  '  It  would  not  be  difficult.  It 
seems  to  me  that  there  is  no  title  would  suit  M.  le  Mare- 
chal better  than  that  of  Germanicus  rran9ais.'' 

"  This  reply  was  quite  to  the  Marshal's  taste.  He 
looked  at  me  smiling,  and  said  many  kind  things  to  me." 

After  Pollnitz  had  been  some  months  in  Paris,  advice 
from  Berlin  told  him  that  the  new  King  was  about  to 
set  up  his  household,  and  that  Charles  could  not  do  better 
than  come  and  offer  his  services.  It  does  honour  to  his 
patriotism  that,  happy  though  he  was  at  Paris,  he 
soon  made  up  his  mind  as  to  what  he  ought  to  do. 

"  I  had  always  been  brought  up  in  the  feeling  that 
one  should  prefer  the  service  of  one's  own  sovereign  to 
that  of  any  other  ;  besides,  I  felt  myself  allied  by 
nature  to  the  blood  of  our  Kings.  So  I  decided  to  quit 
Paris  yet  once  more.  From  my  character  the  reader 
will  judge  that  I  felt  some  pain  in  forming  such  a  resolve. 
I  confess  frankly  that  I  was  deeply  moved  at  leaving 
a  place  where  I  enjoyed  pleasures  such  as  I  well  knew 
I  should  not  find  elsewhere ;  but  in  the  end  I  listened  to 
the  call  of  duty,  and  the  tears  I  saw  shed  melted  me, 
indeed,  but  had  no  power  to  mduce  me  to  change  my 
plan." 

Pollnitz  went  by  Wesel  to  Hanover,  where  he  fell  ill. 

"  My  design  had  been  to  remain  incognito,  but  the 
state  in  which  I  was  obliged  me  to  call  in  a  doctor. 
For  a  while  I  thought  all  remedies  would  be  in  vain, 
and  that  I  must  indeed  think  of  making  the  Long 
Journey." 


THE  VAGRANT  117 

Cousin  Charlotte  Henrietta  heard  of  her  young  rela- 
tive's arrival,  and  informed  the  Electress,  "  who  kindly 
sent  to  inquire  news  of  me,  and  continued  to  do  so  twice 
a  day  while  I  was  ill.  This  Princess  has  always  shown 
me  kindness  for  which  I  shall  be  eternally  grateful." 

"  Directly  I  was  able  to  go  out  I  did  not  fail  to  go 
and  present  my  very  humble  thanks  to  Madame  the 
Electress."  She  received  the  young  man  better  than 
he  had  dared  to  hope,  and  the  interest  she  had  shown 
in  him  led  Charlotte  Henrietta,  and  also  the  Countess 
Kilmannsegg,  to  suggest  that  "  if  I  were  to  solicit  per- 
mission to  enter  her  service  I  should  easily  receive  it." 
Though  Pollnitz  doubted  of  his  success,  these  ladies 
persuaded  him  to  try ;  but  experience  showed  that  he 
was  right.  He  made  his  petition  by  letter,  which  he 
thought  afterwards  had  been  a  sottise,  as  it  gave  the 
Electress   time   to   ask   advice.     Which   she   did,   and 

unluckily  she  consulted  Frau  von  B .     "  This  lady 

could  not  abide  me,  and  I  have  since  found  out  the 
reason  of  her  aversion."  The  Baron  had  perpetrated 
another  sottise. 

For  he  had  told  Madame,  who  had  written  to  the 
Electress,  with  whom  she  corresponded  at  least  once  a 
week,  that  the  Electoral  Prince  George  was  paying 
particular  attention  to  this  lady.  "  This  was  enough  to 
set   violently    against   me    a   person   who,    exteriorly, 

professed  the  most  austere  virtue."     Frau  von  B 

was  delighted  to  find  means  of  revenging  herself  on 
being  consulted  by  the  Electress.  She  managed  to 
persuade  the  latter  not  to  receive  Pollnitz  into  her 
service,  finding  plenty  of  good  reasons  to  allege,  "  the 
desire  for  revenge,"  moralizes  our  hero,  "  always 
furnishes  specious  pretexts  enough  to  injure  one's 
enemy." 

The  Electress  took  her  advice,  but  the  refusal  was 
most  kindly  put. 

"  She  could  not  imagine,"  she  wrote,  "  that,  after 
having  served  a  King,  I  should  desire  to  serve  an  old 


118  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

Princess  like  herself;  that  the  service  of  the  Elector, 
her  son,  would  suit  me  better,  and  that  she  would  be 
pleased  to  help  me  to  enter  it,  but,  for  herself,  she 
would  reserve  the  pleasure  of  receiving  me  into  her 
service  till  she  was  Queen  of  England ;  because,  if  that 
happened,  she  would  be  more  in  a  position  to  advance 
my  career/' 

Over  a  refusal  so  kindly  put,  Pollnitz  could  feel  no 
bitterness.  He  says  he  only  took  the  step  to  please 
his  cousin,  who  "  was  keenly  annoyed  by  the  Electress's 
conduct,  not  so  much  out  of  love  for  me  (I  knew  where  I 
was  on  that  score)  as  from  wounded  pride.  Her  vanity 
suffered  greatly ;  she  thought  herself  in  favour,  and  she 
perceived  that  she  had  no  influence."'  Her  resentment 
went  so  far  that  she  prevented  Pollnitz  taking  leave  of 
the  Electress,  who  left  a  few  days  later  for  Gohre  and  the 
Baron  for  Berlin.  The  clever  old  lady  and  the  amusing 
lad  to  whom  she  had  been  kind  were  not  to  meet  again. 

Disappointment  was  again  to  dog  Pollnitz's  footsteps 
when  he  reached  the  capital.  Frederic  William  was 
strenuously  at  work,  as  King,  farmer,  and  drill-sergeant. 
The  whole  of  Europe  was  being  ransacked  for  recruits 
for  his  giant  Grenadier  regiment.  These  "  long  fellows  " 
became  "  channels  to  the  favour,''  as  his  daughter  puts 
it,  of  the  "  rugged  Orson."  Prince  Leopold  of  Anhalt- 
Dessau  has  such  influence  that,  Pollnitz  writes,  he  per- 
suaded the  King  to  cut  down  his  household  and  suite 
almost  to  "  the  level  of  that  of  a  private  person,"  in 
order  that  there  might  be  more  money  to  spend  on  the 
army.  When  Pollnitz  reached  Berlin  nearly  all  the  few 
appointments  were  already  given  away. 

Kelying  on  "  auld  lang  syne,"  he  appealed  to  von  Print- 
zen,  who  had  known  him  so  well  as  a  boy  when  Printzen 
was  tutor  to  Frederic  William,  and  who  had  taken  him 
as  a  page  on  the  mission  to  Charles  XII.  But  times  had 
changed.  In  this  austere,  parsimonious  Court,  where 
there  was  to  be  all  work  and  no  play,  there  was  no  niche 
for  a  lively,  amusing  young  fellow,  a  delightful  com- 


THE  VAGEANT  119 

panion,  a  wit,  and  a  raconteur,  with  a  good  head  for, 
and  much  experience  at,  lansquenet  and  bassette. 

Printzen,  who  belonged  to  the  old  regime,  did  his 
best  and  spoke  for  Pollnitz ;  but  his  request  was 
refused,  and  the  refusal  hurt  Pollnitz  all  the  more  in 
that  it  was  very  far  from  being  couched  in  the  flattering 
language  which  had  sweetened  the  similar  bitter  pill 
which  he  had  been  obliged  to  swallow  at  Hanover.  He 
felt  aggrieved,  and  througli  no  fault  of  his  own.  Frederic 
William  was  filling  his  Court  with  parvenus.  Of  the 
three  new  Ministers,  Kreuz  had  been  known  to  Pollnitz 
as  Advocate-General  of  the  Prince  Royal's  regiment  in 
the  old  days,  and  his  new  elevation  to  the  ranks  of  the 
nobility  "  had  not  made  him  lose  his  bourgeois  appear- 
ance ;  "  while  Kraut,  the  Paymaster-General,  had  been 
a  tradesman  in  Berlin,  had  "sold  goods  by  the  yard," 
and  owed  his  title  to  his  wealth. 

"  I  felt  very  much,"  writes  Pollnitz,  "  the  conduct  of 
the  Court  towards  me  ;  I  had  never  done  anything 
that  should  bar  me  from  an  appointment  among  my  own 
class  ;  my  ancestors  had  always  served  there,  and  had 
held  a  position  sufficiently  distinguished  for  me  to 
hope  that  some  consideration  might  be  shown  me  ; 
moreover,  I  had  had  the  honour  of  being  Gentleman 
of  the  Chamber  to  the  late  King,  yet  I  had  the  chagrin 
of  seeing  people  who  had  never  been  to  Court,  and  who 
were  mostly  of  obscure  birth,  preferred  before  me. 
Seeing  myself,  therefore,  without  any  hope  of  succeeding 
with  regard  to  the  Court,  I  thought  I  ought  to  try  my 
luck  elsewhere." 

Shaking  the  dust  of  Prussia  of!  his  feet,  Pollnitz  con- 
sidered taking  service  with  the  King  of  Poland. 


CHAPTER   VII 

It  was  to  Count  Flemming,  the  Prime  Minister  and 
Field-Marshal  of  Saxony,  that  Pollnitz  owed  the  sug- 
gestion of  entering  the  service  of  Augustus  the  Strong, 
Elector  of  Saxony,  now,  at  last,  firmly  seated  on  the 
uneasy  Polish  throne. 

Pollnitz  gives  a  clear  portrait  of  the  man  who  had 
been  mainly  instrumental  in  assuring  that  much-fought- 
for  but  questionable  possession  to  his  master. 

Flemming  was  a  remarkable  man,  of  a  family  which 
had  branches  in  Poland,  Sweden,  Germany,  and  Scot- 
land. At  that  time  Lord  Wigton  was  the  head  of  the 
Scottish  branch.  Flemming's  father  had  been  head  of 
the  Swedish  Regency  in  Pomerania,  where  his  son  was 
born.  The  latter  studied  at  Frankfort-on-the-Oder  and 
at  Utrecht,  '*  learning  to  speak  Latin  elegantly."  He 
took  service  under  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg,  and 
saw  fighting  in  Piedmont.  Then  he  entered  the  ser- 
vice of  Saxony,  and  commanded  the  Imperial  troops 
against  the  Turks.  At  the  peace  he  was  sent  to  Poland, 
and,  by  means  of  family  connections  added  to  good 
luck  and  ability,  brought  about  Augustus's  election  to 
the  throne.  Flemming  fought  against  Charles  XII  in 
Lithuania,  and  married  a  Sapieha,  one  of  the  first 
families.  Charles,  when  he  carried  all  before  him, 
demanded  that  Flemming,  as  his  subject  born,  should  be 
given  up  to  him.  But  the  Count  escaped  to  Branden- 
burg till  the  storm  blew  over,  and  there  met  Pollnitz  at 
Frederic's  Court.  On  his  return  to  Saxony  there  was 
for  a  while  fierce  rivalry  between  him  and  Schulemberg, 
the  senior  Saxon  Lieutenant-General.  Then  the  latter, 
after  his  defeat  by  the  Swedes  at  Frauensdorf,  passed 

120 


THE  VAGRANT  121 

over  to  the  Venetian  service,  and  Flemming  reigned 
supreme  in  his  master's  favour.  He  was  accused  of 
having  instigated  Augustus  to  deliver  up  Potkul,  the 
Russian  envoy,  to  Charles  ;  "  and,  if  Augustus  had 
not  been  more  generous  than  Flemming,  Charles  would 
himself  have  been  arrested  "  on  that  strange  surprise 
visit  he  paid  to  Augustus  at  Dresden.  When  Charles 
was  overthrown,  and  Augustus's  Polish  sovereignty 
secured,  Flemming  devoted  himself  to  arranging  the 
Northern  League  and  the  subsequent  peace,  and  to 
marrying  Augustus's  son  to  the  Emperor's  daughter. 

At  the  time  when  Pollnitz  again  met  Flemming  in 
Berlin — 

"  He  was  rather  king's  courier  between  Dresden, 
Berlin,  and  Warsaw  than  acting  as  envoy  and  Prime 
Minister.  .  .  .  All  his  life  he  had  been  seeking  his  own 
ends  first,  and  those  of  the  King,  his  master,  secondly, 
and  I  am  not  aware  that  I  wrong  him,"  adds  Pollnitz, 
**  in  saying  that  he  was  more  the  Minister  of  the  King 
of  Prussia  than  of  the  King  of  Poland." 

Very  tall,  with  hawk's  eyes,  a  mocking  smile  and  a 
haughty  air,  proud  and  inordinately  ambitious,  Flem- 
ming was  an  indefatigable  worker  and  an  equally 
arduous  pleasure-seeker.  Two  hours'  sleep  sufficed  him. 
*'  All  means  were  alike  to  him  if  only  he  succeeded  in 
his  designs.  Perjury,  deceit,  politeness,  lavishness — all 
served  him  in  turn ;  but  his  manners  were  in  truth  those 
of  a  captain  of  dragoons  rather  than  of  Field-Marshal 
and  Prime  Minister." 

This  was  the  man  into  whose  hands  poor,  disappointed, 
chagrined  Pollnitz  now  entrusted  his  fortunes.  "  I 
made  most  of  my  friendship  with  him,  and  paid  my 
respects  to  him  zealously.  This  Minister  seemed  to 
have  every  intention  of  doing  me  a  service,  and  he  pro- 
mised to  speak  for  me  to  the  King,  his  master."  Flem- 
ming left  Berlin  for  Warsaw  at  the  end  of  November, 


122  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

1713,  and  Pollnitz  followed  him.    He  was  presented  to 
the  King,  and  to  all  the  nobility  of  the  Court. 

Augustus  the  Strong  was  then  forty -four,  a  fine  figure, 
handsome,  stately,  a  charming  mixture  of  strength  and 
valour  with  gentleness  and  politeness. 

"  Never  was  Prince  more  magnificent,  or  more  lavish, 
never  one  who  accompanied  his  gifts  with  more  gracious- 
ness.  Soldier  and  politician,  modest  in  prosperity,  firm 
in  adversity,  he  has  been  seen,  even  in  the  depths  of 
misfortune,  to  speak  to  his  enemies  with  the  pleasant 
and  contented  air  which  men  used  to  dealing  with 
great  affairs  know  how  to  assume  under  the  most  cruel 
mortifications." 

In  his  youth  Augustus  had  travelled  much,  and 
Pollnitz  recounts  a  strange  incident  which  occurred  to 
him  when  amusing  himself  in  the  gay  city  of  Venice. 
Wishing  to  consult  a  celebrated  astrologer,  Augustus 
went  to  him  "  accompanied  only  by  two  gentlemen,  and 
all  three  very  simply  dressed.  The  Prince,  in  order  not 
to  be  recognized,  had  hidden  his  brown  hair  under  a 
flaxen  wig,  and  was  the  last  to  enter  the  astrologer's 
study,  and  made  as  if  he  were  following  the  others. 
Yet  the  astrologer  spoke  to  him,  calling  him  Monseigneur 
and  Highness,"  in  spite  of  the  Prince's  disclaimers.  He 
then  showed  him  a  magic  mirror.  "  Look  in  here,"  he 
said  to  the  Prince,  "  and  you  will  see  the  principal 
events  of  your  life."  Augustus  beheld  himself  clad 
first  in  Electoral  robes,  then  with  a  crown  on  his  head, 
and  finally,  wounded,  and  covered  with  blood.  Pollnitz 
had  this  story  from  a  courtier  who  was  told  it  by  the 
King  himself,  and  goes  on  to  say  that  a  stone-mason 
had  predicted  to  Madame  de  Maintenon,  when  she  was 
widow  Scarron,  her  future  rank  and  fortune,  "  and  I 
could  tell  of  other  examples,  quite  as  strange,"  adding, 
sceptical  as  usual,  "  which  surprise  but  do  not  convince 
me." 

Nothing  could  have  been  better,  he  thought,  than  his 


THE  VAGRANT  123 

debut  at  the  Court  of  Poland.  The  French  temperament 
of  the  Poles,  and  that  of  their  gorgeous,  pleasure-loving, 
and  easy-going  monarch,  were  precisely  to  his  liking. 
"  I  was  patronized  by  the  man  who  cut  the  finest  figure 
after  the  King,  which  was  the  reason  why  every  one 
was  so  civil  to  me." 

But  the  King  soon  left  for  Germany.  In  spite  of  all 
he  had  gone  through  "  to  gain  and  then  to  recover  the 
Polish  crown,"  his  life  at  Warsaw  did  not  really  suit 
him. 

*'  There,"  says  Pollnitz,  "  he  has  only  the  vain  pomp 
of  kingly  majesty  ;  he  is  more  limited  than  any  other 
monarch  in  the  world  ;  the  least  innovation,  the  smallest 
act  of  independent  authority,  causes  the  Poles  to  cry 
out,  and  they  think  themselves  at  once  absolved  from 
any  obedience  they  owe  him.  Every  one  of  gentle  birth 
there  is  independent ;  the  nobles  make  the  Kings,  and 
only  appear  at  Court  in  order  to  ask  favours,  and  if  they 
receive  them  they  depart  ungrateful,  and  if  they  are 
refused  they  leave  with  the  intention  of  revenging 
themselves  upon  the  first  occasion.  The  climate  is 
severe,  the  people  are  barbarous,  and  the  King,  adored 
in  Saxony,  is  barely  liked  in  Poland." 

As  Pollnitz  deemed  it  best  to  await  Augustus's  return 
from  Germany  before  speaking  to  him  of  his  own  affairs, 
he  remained  at  Warsaw,  "  and  spent  his  time  most 
agreeably.  I  was  soon  acquainted  with  all  the  Polish 
nobility,  who  were  full  of  every  civility  for  me." 

*'  Polite  Polish  society,"  as  Rulhiere  remarks,  "  felt 
itself  in  a  most  halcyon  condition,  given  up  to  the 
agreeable,  and  that  only."  Pollnitz  found  "  Paris  over 
again,  in  the  same  politeness,  and  in  a  certain  ease  of 
manner  of  which  the  French  think  they  are  the  sole 
possessors.  The  Polish  ladies  are  very  pleasant,  they 
all  have  esprit,  and  are  very  lively.     It  can  easUy  be 


124  A  VAGABOND  COUETIER 

imagined  that,  with  these  qualities,  they  are  not  in- 
different to  pleasure  ;  in  fact,  I  noticed  in  them  a  delicacy 
and  a  taste  for  everything  that  can  be  called  amusement. 
They  are  passionately  fond  of  music,  and  still  more  of 
plays.  At  Warsaw  there  is  plenty  to  satisfy  them  ; 
the  King  is  a  prince  as  gallant  as  he  is  magnificent,  and 
likes  everything  done  at  his  Court  in  a  manner  worthy 
of  a  great  king.  He  maintains  French  actors,  and 
often  gives  balls  and  concerts.  To  these  amusements 
are  generally  added  beautiful  fetes  which  the  King 
gives  to  the  ladies  of  his  Court,  at  which  this  Prince 
is  always  admired  for  his  good  looks  and  for  the  affability 
which  accompanies  all  his  actions.  .  .  .  The  Polish 
nobles  are  not  so  fine  as  their  ladies,  by  any  means,  nor 
are  they  equal  to  them  in  taste  and  arrangements.  The 
servants  and  the  carriages  are  usually  badly  turned  out ; 
their  tables  are,  indeed,  profusely  laden,  but  without 
refinement,  owing,  I  believe,  to  lack  of  good  maids  and 
clever  cooks,  for  otherwise  Poland  is  the  best  country 
in  the  world  for  good  living.  The  butchers'  meat  is 
delicious,  the  fish  excellent  and  plentiful ;  no  wine  grows 
in  the  country,  but  one  does  not  notice  it  amongst  the 
Polish  nobility,  where  the  Hungarian  wine,  though  very 
dear,  is  drunk  like  water.  I  noticed  something  among 
most  of  them  which  does  not  befit  with  the  grandeur 
on  which  they  pride  themselves  ;  it  is  that  the  master 
of  the  house  and  his  particular  friends  drink  very  good 
wine  indeed,  while  the  other  guests  are  obliged  to  content 
themselves  with  rather  common  wine.  It  is  noticeable 
that,  though  Poland  produces  in  abundance  all  that  is 
necessary  for  life,  it  is  a  country  very  uncomfortable 
for  travellers,  especially  for  those  who  are  unable  to 
carry  everything  with  them.  I  have  never  seen  any 
place  where  the  inns  were  so  badly  furnished ;  one  scarcely 
finds  a  chair  to  sit  on.  Therefore  travellers  of  a  certain 
position  take  care  to  carry  about  with  them  all  they 
require.  The  Duke  of  York,  when  Bishop  of  Osnabriick, 
remarked  with  reference  to  this  practice  that  there  is  no 
country  he  knew  of  where  one  is  so  at  home  as  in  Poland, 


THE  VAGRANT  125 

because   when   one   travels   one   always   finds   oneself 
with  one's  own  furniture/' 

When  he  heard  that  the  King  was  about  to  return 
to  Germany  PoUnitz  at  once  left  Warsaw  in  company 
with  Count  Hoyhm,  Minister  of  State,  called  the 
Maecenas  of  Saxony,  "  one  of  the  most  polite  of  the 
Ministers,  who  is  the  greatest  scholar,  and  who  most 
patronizes  literary  people,  in  his  splendid  Hotel  at 
Dresden,  one  of  the  largest  buildings  in  that  city." 

They  w^ent  by  way  of  Breslau. 

"  A  fine  large  city,  with  many  nobility  in  residence 
in  winter.  ...  As  Count  Flemniing  was  staying  two 
days,  I  stayed  there  also,  and  saw  very  good  company, 
especially  at  the  Princess  of  Teschen.  This  fair  lady, 
a  Fraulein  von  Lubomirski,  a  former  favourite  of  the 
King  and  mother  by  him  of  the  Chevalier  de  Saxe,'' 
was  "  a  very  grande  dame,  who  entertained  with  much 
magnificence." 

Fain  would  the  Baron  have  lingered  a  day  or  two 
longer  at  Breslau,  but  deemed  it  wise  not  to  lose  sight 
of  Flemming,  on  whom  he  had  built  all  his  hopes.  So 
they  went  together  to  Leipzig  to  the  famous  fair.  The 
Saxon  Royalties  always  graced  these  gatherings  with 
their  presence,  as  Leipzig  was  in  their  country,  and,  as 
Augustus  had  been  some  time  out  of  his  hereditary 
dominions,  there  was  a  great  gathering  of  Princes  of 
the  Blood,  legitimate,  legitimized,  and  recognized,  and 
many  people  of  quality  came  to  pay  their  respects. 

Saxony  at  that  period  was,  after  Austrian  dominions, 
the  largest  and  most  important  of  all  the  States  of  the 
Empire.  Its  capital,  though  not  very  large,  was  well 
fortified,  "  and  well  planned  with  high,  solid  houses, 
wide,  straight  streets,  well  paved,  clean,  and  well  lighted 
at  night,  to  be  ranked  among  the  finest  to\vns  in  the 
world,"  thought  Pollnitz.     In  his  day  it  consisted  of 


126  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

two  quarters,  divided  by  the  Elbe,  and  joined  by  a 
stone  bridge. 

Pollnitz  came  by  way  of  Meissen,  of  porcelain  fame, 
the  factory  started  for  Augustus  by  an  alchemist,  whom 
he  immured  in  his  castle  of  Konigstein  to  make  gold, 
but  who  turned  him  out  what  was  quite  as  lucrative, 
the  finest  china  in  the  world. 

*'  Dresden  was  the  pleasure -centre  of  Germany,  and 
entertainments  make  a  stay  there  scarcely  diSerent 
to  Paris."  Magnificent  were  the  fetes  given  during 
carnival  time,  for  Pollnitz  had  arrived  at  a  propitious 
moment — 

"  And  all  who  were  present  were  even  more  delighted 
with  the  King's  pleasant  manners  than  with  the  loveli- 
ness of  the  scene  and  the  magnificence  of  the  feasts. 
.  .  .  Though  the  King  divides  his  time  between  his 
kingdom  and  his  Electorate,  it  is  true  that  he  appears 
to  enjoy  himself  better  in  Saxony  than  in  Poland.  It 
is  his  hereditary  country,  and  he  is  absolute  there ; 
his  will  is  that  of  his  subjects,  by  whom  he  is  adored 
rather  than  beloved.  Saxony  provides  him  with  the 
means  of  keeping  up  his  dignity,  and  offers  all  that  can 
contribute  to  the  pleasure  of  a  great  monarch.  His 
Court "  (now  that  Louis  XIV  had  grown  old  and  devout, 
and  austere  Frederic  William  reigned  at  Berlin)  "  was 
the  most  brilliant  in  Europe,  full  of  magnificence, 
stateliness,  and  pleasure." 

The  Baron  haunted  the  noble  Palais  des  Indes  et 
d'Hollande,  where  his  friend  Flemming  lived  in  much 
state,  for  he  had  abundantly  feathered  his  nest, 

"  All  the  rooms  of  the  three  floors  were  so  many 
china  cabinets,  filled  with  Japanese  and  Chinese  porce- 
lain. ...  I  do  not  think  that  all  the  shops  of  Amster- 
dam put  together  can  furnish  such  old  and  rare  china 
as  is  here.  They  say  it  is  worth  one  million  crowns. 
The  furniture  of  the  house  is  from  India.    There  is  one 


THE  VAGRANT  127 

decoration  which  I  have  never  seen  elsewhere;  it  is 
of  feathers,  all  of  different  colours,  and  all  natural, 
worked  together  with  so  much  art  that  one  mistakes 
it  for  satin  with  bouquets  of  flowers.'* 

The  garden,  slopmg  down  to  the  Elbe,  was  adorned 
with  statues  from  Rome,  much  admired  in  Dresden, 
*'  but  not  greatly  so  at  Rome." 

PoUnitz  went  to  the  wild-beast  fights  in  the  Arena,  of 
*'  lions,  tigers,  bears,  the  fiercest  beasts  the  four  quarters 
of  the  world  can  supply."  He  saw  the  Green  Vaults, 
with  their  immense  collection  of  jewels,  of  ornaments, 
and  apparel,  "  one  of  the  finest  spots  in  the  world  ...  if 
I  described  them  all  I  should  write  a  volume."  The 
Zvvinge-Garten  of  the  palace  he  thought  the  Tuileries 
of  Dresden.  He  saw  the  Palais  de  Turquie  in  the 
suburbs,  entirely  furnished  in  oriental  style.  He  went 
over  Moritzburg,  at  which  Augustus  was  still  at  work, 
Bot,  the  Bernini  of  the  period,  the  architect. 

Pollnitz  was  in  Dresden  in  time  for  the  wedding  of 
the  King's  son,  Maurice  of  Saxe,  which  was  celebrated 
with  great  splendour.  Imitating  the  example  of 
Louis  XIV,  Augustus  had  legitimized  four  natural 
sons  and  three  daughters.  Of  these  Maurice  was  the 
eldest,  the  best  beloved,  and  the  one  who  in  tempera- 
ment most  resembled  his  father,  but  surpassed  him  in 
military  genius,  "  one  of  the  most  delightful  of  noble- 
men," Pollnitz  calls  him.  His  mother,  the  beautiful 
Aurora  von  Konigsmarck,  sister  of  the  lover  of  Dorothea 
of  Zell,  was  living  in  retreat  as  Prioress  of  the  abbey  of 
Quedlemburg.  "  Of  all  the  King's  favourites,"  writes 
Pollnitz,  "  she  was  the  one  whose  favour  lasted  longest " 
(a  mistake :  it  lasted  under  a  year ! )  "  and  who  in  her 
retreat  knew  how  to  retain  His  Majesty's  esteem  and 
consideration." 

When  Maurice  de  Saxe,  young,  gay,  handsome,  and 
gallant,  a  heau  sabreur,  returned  at  fifteen  from  the 
campaign  in  Flanders,  where  he  had  served  his  appren- 
ticeship to  war,  he  lacked  money.    His  mother  schemed 


128  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

to  marry  him  to  "  the  priceless  jewel/"  the  rich  heiress, 
Victoria  von  Loben,  who,  at  eight  years  old,  had  been 
betrothed  to  Count  von  Friesen.  Her  father  dies,  her 
mother  marries  again,  a  Baron  Gersdorf,  who  induces 
her  to  betroth  the  heiress  to  his  nephew  of  the  same 
name.  Young  Gersdorf  elopes  with  Victoria,  aged  nine  ; 
great  scandal  in  Saxony  and  Poland,  and  Friesen  raises 
a  clamour.  Aurora  von  Konigsmarck  now  saw  her 
chance.  She  induced  the  King  to  summon  Victoria 
and  her  mother  ;  the  marriage  was  declared  void.  The 
child  was  removed  from  her  mother's  control,  as  the 
latter  had  been  party  to  the  abduction ;  Gersdorf  was 
made  to  give  up  his  wife,  and  Friesen  married  off  to 
one  of  the  King's  daughters  by  Countess  Cosel.  The 
way  was  now  clear  for  Maurice. 

But  he  was  only  sixteen  and  athirst  for  glory.  An 
early  marriage  had  no  attractions  for  him  ;  but  money 
had.  "  Soit !  "  he  exclaimed  to  his  mother,  "  epousons 
la  Victoire  !  " 

"  I  made  love  as  I  made  war."  The  heiress  suc- 
cumbed. The  young  couple  wrote  love-letters  to  each 
other  ("tres  fidele  jusqu'a  la  mort")  and  poetry. 
But  the  King,  thinking  them  too  young,  deferred  the 
marriage. 

Countess  Cosel,  his  favourite,  now  attempted  to 
estrange  him  from  Aurora's  influence  and  secure  the 
heiress  for  one  of  her  sons.  But  the  lovers  approached 
the  King  together,  and  he  gave  his  consent  to  their 
prayers. 

The  wedding  took  place  at  Moritzburg  ;  the  bride 
fifteen,  the  bridegroom  a  year  older.  It  was  a  very 
fine  affair,  chronicles  Pollnitz,  all  the  Court  present, 
and  fetes  following  for  many  days.  But  the  match 
turned  out  ill ;  the  young  couple  led  a  cat-and-dog  life 
for  a  short  time  ;  their  son  died,  and  they  separated, 
after  Maurice  had  run  through  all  his  wife's  large  fortune. 

"  When  the  King  was  at  Dresden  pleasure  abounded 
there  :  plays,  masquerades,  balls,  banquets,  tilting  at  the 


FREDERIC    AUGUSTUS    I,     ELECTOR    OF    SAXONY    AND    KING    OF    POLAND. 

i'rom  the  Collection  of  -V.  .\l.    I'.roadley. 


128] 


THE   VAGRANT  129 

ring,  sleigh-races,  tourings,  hunting-parties  .  .  .  most 
of  the  fetes  public.  The  plays  and  masquerades  open 
to  any  one  who  was  well  dressed.  .  .  .  The  Saxons  are 
naturally  frivolous,  but  nothing  do  they  like  better  than 
women  and  play,"  writes  PoUnitz. 

The  Margravine  of  Bayreuth  writes  of  the  profligate 
Augustus's  dissipated  Court  as  "  the  island  of  Cy there, 
where  the  King  kept  a  harem  of  the  most  lovely  women 
of  all  countries,  and  where  every  one  followed  his  example 
.  .  .  and  where  Bacchus  and  Venus  were  the  fashionable 
divinities." 

Pollnitz  found  that  the  Saxons,  "  loving  display  and 
extravagance,  more  than  all  Germans,  affected  to 
imitate  the  French,  with  whom  they  sympathize  most, 
particularly  in  the  changes  of  fashion,  in  the  ease 
with  which  they  make  acquaintances  and  form  friend- 
ships, and  also,  perhaps,  in  the  fickleness  with  which 
they  cease  to  be  friends.  .  .  .  The  fair,  white  Saxon 
women  have,"  thought  Pollnitz,  "  the  most  beautiful 
faces  in  the  world.  Most  of  them  have  fine  figures, 
which  is  what  strikes  one  most.  .  .  .  They  are  tall  and 
slender,  they  dance  well,  dress  richly,  are  lively  and 
playful,  gentle,  but  cunning  and  shrewd.  ...  A  sepa- 
rate volume  would  be  necessary  to  describe  all  the 
amusements  at  Dresden." 

Naturally  the  young  Baron  was  fascinated  with  that 
beautiful,  brilliant,  eccentric  creature,  the  Countess 
Orselska,  a  Pole,  the  King's  favourite  natural  daughter. 
She  much  resembled  him,  loving  dress  and  display  and 
pleasure,  and  usually  dressed  in  a  riding-habit,  or  like 
a  man. 

"  It  was  in  this  costume  I  first  saw  her,"  writes 
Pollnitz.  "  She  was  riding,  wearing  a  coat  of  purple 
braided  with  gold,  and  the  Blue  Ribbon  of  Poland.  I 
was  alone,  and  so  could  not  ask  who  she  was.  I  took 
her  for  some  young  stranger  lord  that  I  had  not  yet 

1-9 


130  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

seen.  I  had  never  seen  any  one  ride  better,  nor  look 
more  attractive  ;  many  ladies  would  have  liked  a  lover 
like  her.  The  same  evening  I  saw  her  at  a  court  ball, 
still  dressed  as  a  man  ;  the  richest  coat,  short  hair,  well 
frizzed.  Love  was  not  more  beautiful  when  he  appeared 
to  Psyche.  Her  good  looks  and  the  grace  with  which  I 
saw  her  dance  a  minuet  led  me  to  ask  who  the  hand- 
some young  man  was.  Count  Botofski  (her  half- 
brother)  heard  me.  '  That  young  man  whom  you 
admire  so  much  would  not  do  you  much  harm  if  you 
were  a  woman,  but  he  might  do  you  some  now.  Come  ' 
— and  he  took  me  by  the  hand — '  I  will  present  you  to 
him,  and  you  can  get  out  of  it  as  well  as  you  can.' 

"  Botofski  said  to  his  sister  :  '  My  sister,  here  is  a 
cavalier  who  will  give  you  what  is  due  to  your  charms, 
and  I  can  guarantee  that  he  will  be  ready  to  serve  you 
in  all  you  may  require  from  him.' 

"  Mademoiselle  Orselska  smiled  at  this.  I  saluted  with 
all  the  respect  due  to  her  rank,  and  she  received  me  in  the 
pleasantest  way  possible.'' 

Next  day  he  saw  her  dressed  as  a  woman  and  found 
her  even  more  delightful.  "  I  see  her  daily,  and,  the  more 
I  see  of  her,  the  more  I  think  a  cadet  of  the  Holstein 
house,  to  whom  she  is  betrothed,  happy  to  be  her 
husband." 

Poor  Orselska !  there  was  little  happiness  about  the 
marriage.  The  bridegroom  married  her  to  obtain 
employment  of  Augustus,  but  after  the  latter's  death  he 
left  her,  and  even  stripped  her  of  her  wealth. 

The  main  reason  why  Pollnitz  thought  himself  likely 
to  be  successful  in  his  application  for  a  court  appoint- 
ment at  Dresden  was  Flemming's  well-known  liking, 
as  a  foreigner  himself,  for  foreigners. 

"  The  chief  posts  at  this  Court  were  held  by  strangers, 
and  the  Saxons  themselves  have  very  little  part  in  the 
affairs  of  State.     It  is  a  debt  they  owe  to  Count  Flem- 


THE  VAGRANT  131 

ming.  This  Minister,  vain,  haughty,  overbearing,  wishes 
all  to  bow  before  him.  He  finds  such  submission  more 
from  foreigners  than  from  Saxons,  naturally  proud  and 
averse  to  being  under  the  yoke.  .  .  .  Flemming  seemed 
much  pleased  with  the  attention  that  people  paid  me, 
or,  perhaps,  I  was  not  perspicacious  enough  to  discover 
that  it  was  quite  immaterial  to  him.  It  was  excusable 
in  me  not  to  suspect  his  duplicity  towards  me  ;  up  till 
then  I  had  but  reason  to  be  pleased  with  his  generosity 
and  with  the  good-will  he  evinced  in  helping  me.  But 
people  took  pains  to  disillusion  me,  and  a  short  time 
afterwards  I  discovered  for  myself  that  the  fine  promises 
he  had  made  me  were  but  what  is  called  '  court  holy 
water.  .  .  .'  I  should  doubtless  have  taken  more 
pleasure  in  all  these  amusements  had  I  been  able  to 
be  satisfied  about  the  state  of  my  affairs.  I  had  always 
reckoned  much  on  Flemming's  promises,  but  when  I 
was  at  Dresden  matters  assumed  another  aspect.  I 
reminded  him  of  his  promise,  he  replied  with  a  gay  air 
which  showed  me  that  I  must  not  hope  much  from 
him.  Yet,  in  order  to  have  nothing  to  reproach  myself 
with,  I  continued  to  profess  great  friendship  for  him. 
I  did  not  fail  to  meet  with  several  rebuffs,  which,  how- 
ever, did  not  repel  me.  I  had  all  the  more  reason  to 
bear  my  ill-luck  patiently  because  I  knew  that  he 
treated  his  most  devoted  followers  in  the  same  way. 

"  At  last,  unwilling  to  do  anything  for  me  himself, 
he  sent  me  to  M.  de  Louvendahl,  Grand  Marshal  of  the 
Court.  A  Dane  by  birth,  who  lived  in  great  state  and 
kept  a  good  table,  he  was  very  civil  to  foreigners.  He 
sent  me  to  Vitzthum,  the  King's  favourite.  I  was  de- 
lighted with  the  politeness  and  good  manners  of  this 
latter ;  never,  I  think,  was  there  a  favourite  more 
obliging,  or  who  gave  himself  less  airs.  He  did  not 
dally  with  me,  but  made  me  aware  of  the  impossibility 
of  obtaining  any  appointment  at  Court  unless  the  King, 
by  a  special  favour,  could  do  me  an  act  of  kindness  ; 
which  could  only  be  at  the  expense  of  several  Polish 
nobles  who  were  all  begging  for  places  to  which  their 


132  A  VAGABOND  COUETIER 

birth  gave  them  a  special  claim.  Still,  I  did  not  lose 
hopes  of  succeeding,  and,  as  this  favour  could  only  be 
granted  through  the  channel  of  Flemming,  I  again  had 
recourse  to  him.  I  had  no  reason  to  be  pleased ;  doubt- 
less I  spoke  to  him  about  my  business  at  the  wrong 
moment,  when  he  was,  perhaps,  busy  with  other  affairs 
of  more  consequence  ;  finally,  he  repulsed  me  so  severely 
that  nothing  more  was  necessary  to  make  me  relinquish 
my  expectations.  I  took  leave  of  the  King  and  Queen 
and  set  about  returning  to  Berlin.'' 

But,  ere  Pollnitz  could  leave  for  Berlin,  an  incident 
occurred  to  him  which,  added  to  the  chagrin  he  felt  at 
not  having  succeeded  in  his  plans,  combined  to  make 
his  stay  in  Dresden  as  unbearable  as  it  had  been  at  first 
delightful.  He  had  drawn  at  the  fair  at  Leipzig  a  note 
of  hand  of  300  crowns,  payable  to  bearer.  The  day 
before  he  was  to  start  a  merchant  in  Dresden,  who  was 
authorized  to  receive  it,  sent  to  him  for  payment,  as  the 
time  of  the  note  had  just  expired.  Pollnitz  not  being 
at  home,  this  man  made  use  of  a  custom,  much  in  vogue 
in  Saxony,  which  is  to  seize  any  one  who  fails  to  pay  up 
a  bill  of  exchange  on  the  stipulated  day.  So,  when 
Pollnitz  was  getting  into  his  post-chaise  at  ten  o'clock 
at  night,  he  was  arrested.  Having  lost  a  great  deal  of 
money  at  play  during  the  carnival,  he  had  not  the 
necessary  cash  by  him.  His  only  resource  was  Flem- 
ming, to  whom  he  did  not  apply  in  vain.  "  It  was  the 
only  time  that  I  can  remember  that  he  did  me  any 
service.  I  repaid  him  shortly  after  my  arrival  in 
Berlin." 

Pollnitz  did  not  long  remain  in  his  native  city.  He 
spent  a  few  days  on  the  outskirts,  on  an  estate  of  his 
own,  some  six  miles  off.  Here  he  was  bored  to  death, 
the  boredom  such  as  only  the  born  courtier  knows, 
"  neither  happy  at  Court,  nor  happy  out  of  it."  Once 
more  his  thoughts  and  wishes  turned  towards  Paris, 
though  he  still  intended  seeking  employment  either  at 
Berlin  or  elsewhere.     He  was  only  twenty-one,  and 


THE  VAGRANT  133 

luck  was  terribly  against  him.  There  was  no  one  to 
hold  out  a  helping  hand  to  him  ;  his  brother  away  with 
his  regiment,  cousin  Charlotte  anything  but  friendly. 
A  further  misfortune  now  happened  to  him. 

"  I  was  a  new  Orestes  pursued  by  Fate  from  one 
country  to  the  other. ""  As  he  was  starting  on  his 
journey  he  had  a  fall  from  his  horse,  and  broke  his  leg. 
He  was  terribly  afraid  of  having  it  badly  set  and  being 
lame  for  life.  He  did  indeed  halt  a  little  ever  after ; 
"  notre  boiteiix  satyre,"  Frederic  the  Great  dubs  him. 
However,  after  suffering  a  great  deal  of  pain,  it  happily 
healed  enough  in  nine  days  for  him  to  be  carried  into 
Berlin,  as  he  could  not  drive  either  in  post-chaise  or 
coach. 

"  I  was  carried  by  porters,  which  made  my  entry 
most  comical.  This  new  turn-out  astonished  all  who 
saw  it,  especially  the  children,  who,  unused  to  such  an 
equipage,  followed  me  from  the  outskirts  of  the  town 
to  my  lodging,  and,  as  the  handful  went  on  increasing, 
my  cortege  consisted  of  quite  two  hundred  people  by 
the  time  that  I  reached  my  house.'* 

But  the  move  had  been  an  unwise  one.  His  leg  in- 
flamed, an  abscess  formed,  and  for  twenty  days  PoUnitz 
was  laid  up  in  great  pain.  Directly  he  was  able  to  go 
out  he  went  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  Queen.  He 
found  the  Court  in  a  great  state  of  delight  at  the  news 
of  the  accession  of  the  Elector  of  Hanover  to  the  throne 
of  England,  as  Queen  Anne  had  just  died.  After  a 
stay  of  a  few  days  in  Berlin,  Pollnitz  took  leave  of  the 
Queen  and  went  to  Hamburg. 

Here  he  was  warmly  welcomed  by  his  friend  L , 

whom  he  had  known  when  he  was  of  small  estate,  but 
who  now,  risen  in  the  world,  was  Prussian  envoy  to  the 
Circle  of  Lower  Saxony,  and,  by  means  of  ability  and  of 
money,  on  the  high  road  to  be  a  Minister  of  State  and  a 
Chamberlain. 

He  was  delighted  to  exhibit  his  wealth  and  splendour 


134  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

to  Pollnitz,  but,  unfortunately,  his  very  rich  wife  was 
very  old  and  very  disagreeable,  and  he  could  not  per- 
suade her  to  live  up  to  his  position.  An  invitation  to  a 
supper-party  gave  Pollnitz  the  opportunity  of  criticizing 
her  taste  in  furniture  and  appraising  her  character. 

"  The  first  room  was  decorated  in  black  and  gold 
leather,  with  chairs  of  green  taffetas  trimmed  with 
pink  flowers.  The  second  apartment  was  produced  in 
a  greeny  tapestry,  the  seats  were  black  velvet,  gallooned 
in  gold,  everywhere  were  hung  glass  sconces.  At  the 
end  of  the  room  was  an  alcove  hung  with  white  and 
gold  leather,  in  the  middle  of  the  alcove  a  bed  of  extra- 
ordinary construction  :  it  had  no  curtains,  four  columns 
held  up  the  canopy,  all  was  inlaid  with  mother-of-pearl 
and  tortoise-shell ;  a  cornice  of  gilt  wood  surmounted 
it  all.  The  bed  was  covered  with  a  counterpane  of 
black  velvet  gallooned  in  gold.  In  the  four  corners  of 
the  alcove  were  four  statues  of  white  marble,  each 
holding  a  candle.  There  were  other  candles  on  gold 
sconces,  and  a  rather  fine  chandelier.  The  whole  looked 
like  a  lying-in-state  room,  rather  than  one  in  which  one 
was  to  make  merry. 

"  The  charming  hostess  would  not  appear  at  table, 
but  hid  behind  a  door  in  the  alcove,  and  peeped  at  us 
through  the  crack."  Suddenly,  however,  while  they 
were  all  a-supping,  "  from  the  bottom  of  the  alcove 
came  a  rather  ugly  figure  all  draped  in  white.  I  was 
the  first  to  see  it,  and  really,  if  I  had  faith  in  ghosts, 
I  would  have  thought  to  see  one.  It  was  all  like  the 
scene  of  the  Commander  in  the  Festin  de  Pierre,  except 
that  we  were  not  honoured  by  the  slightest  bow.  I 
heard  swearing  and  cursing  at  the  servants,  which  made 
me  suspect  it  to  be  the  mistress  of  the  house.  I  was 
not  mistaken.  We  owed  this  apparition  to  a  candle 
which  was  guttering  into  a  black  velvet  chair.  The 
lady  had  noticed  it,  and,  hoping  that  a  servant  would 
also  see  it,  had  kept  quiet ;  however,  as  no  one  paid 
any  attention,  she  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  chair." 


THE  VAGEANT  135 

This  apparition  caused  a  great  disturbance  :  excuses 
of  the  preoccupied  servants,  animated  discussion  be- 
tween mistress  and  valets,  all  the  guests,  who  had 
risen  to  their  feet,  kept  standing,  out  of  respect,  the 
husband  endeavouring  to  soothe  his  beloved  spouse. 
At  last,  without  the  slightest  greeting,  she  sat  herself 
down  to  table.  But  the  storm  was  not  over.  A  foot- 
man, annoyed  by  the  scolding,  made  a  blunt  remark; 
the  mistress  flew  into  a  rage  and  tried  to  box  his  ears 
soundly,  but  only  struck  a  plate  which  he  held  up  as 
a  shield.  This  reduced  her  to  silence  for  a  while.  Then 
worse  ensued.  The  valet  was  dismissed  on  the  spot, 
and  the  lady  was  so  affected  by  the  blow  she  gave 
herself  that  she  was  obliged  to  retire.  No  sooner  had 
she  vanished  than  all  burst  out  laughing,  headed  by  the 
husband,  who  begged  his  guests  to  speak  their  minds 
freely.  Which  they  did.  "  But  the  lady  had  only 
hidden  behind  the  door  again,  and  revenged  herself  by 
cutting  the  dessert  off,  and  the  master  had  not  sufficient 
authority  to  give  us  any.'* 

PoUnitz  "  was  so  pleased  with  this  delightful  meal  " 
that,  in  dread  of  a  second  invitation,  he  left  next  day 
for  Hanover,  arriving  just  as  the  Elector  was  starting 
to  take  possession  of  the  English  Crown.  The  King 
and  the  Prince  of  Wales  had  a  great  send-off  from 
Herrenhausen,  and  the  Princess  and  her  daughters 
followed  him  shortly.  But  Frederic  was  left  behind  to 
brighten  up  Hanover,  the  King  assuring  his  subjects 
there  that  it  would  not  be  long  ere  he  returned. 

Pollnitz  went  off  to  the  baths  at  Aix  to  cure  his 
leg,  and  from  thence  to  Paris,  via  Maestricht.  He  tells 
a  story  of  one  of  his  ancestors,  at  that  place,  a  Count 
Ouvverkerke,  a  natural  son  of  Maurice  of  Orange,  and 
a  Dutch  Field-Marshal.  He  was  riding  on  the  bridge 
over  the  Meuse  by  the  side  of  the  coach  of  his  lady-love, 
Mademoiselle  de  Feldtbriick,  and  pleading  his  cause. 
Wearied  with  his  importunity,  she  at  last  deigned  to 
reply  that  lovers  did  not  spare  words,  but  that,  when 
it  came  to  the  proof,  the  instability  of  their  affection 


136  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

was  to  be  seen.  "  For  instance,  Monsieur,  I  bet  that, 
if  I  asked  you  to  jump  off  this  bridge  into  the  river, 
you  would  not  do  it ! "" 

The  cavalier's  only  rejoinder  was  to  set  spurs  to  his 
horse,  which  sprang  into  the  Meuse.  Happily  the  eager 
lover  was  not  thrown,  and  so  stout  was  his  steed  that 
it  carried  him  to  an  island,  whence  he  was  rescued  in 
a  boat.  "  After  a  proof  of  this  kind  the  young  lady 
could  indeed  boast  either  of  being  much  beloved,  or, 
of  a  very  mad  lover."' 

From  Maestricht,  by  Louvain  and  Ghent,  and  his  old 
battle-ground  of  Lille  six  years  before,  Pollnitz,  like 
another  mad  lover,  hurried  on  to  Paris,  burning  to  see 
his  beloved  S again. 


CHAPTER   VIII 

The  Baron,  immediately  on  reaching  Paris,  after  a  visit 
to  a  bath,  went  to  pay  his  respects  to  Mademoiselle 

de  S .     Absence  had  made  the  heart  grow  fonder, 

and  one  of  the  joys  in  seeing  Paris  again  was  to  find 
her  he  loved. 

What  was  his  surprise  when  her  mother  received  him 
all  in  tears,  and  told  him,  weeping,  that  her  daughter 
had  died  a  month  before  on  an  estate  in  Perigord, 
where  she  had  gone  to  visit  friends. 

"  I  was  so  thunderstruck  with  this  news  that  I  could 
not  utter  a  word.  I  tinted.  I  was  carried  back 
home,  and  instantly  bled,  but  it  failed  to  revive  me. 
After  a  long  time  I  returned  to  consciousness,  but  only 
to  give  way  to  my  grief.  It  was  not  sorrow  kept  to 
myself ;  nothing  was  heard  from  me  but  cries,  mingled 
with  sobs,  till  at  last  all  those  who  came  to  see  me 
thought  there  was  no  hope  for  me,  but  that  I  should 
lose  my  mind  with  this  attack.  Indeed  they  were 
right,  for  I  was  half-way  towards  doing  so.  For  five 
days  I  remained  like  this.'" 

Then  appeared  the  mother  of  S ,  who  informed 

him  that  her  daughter  was  not  dead  after  all,  but  would 
shortly  be  in  Paris. 

"  This  sort  of  resurrection  was  as  joyful  a  piece  of 
news  as  the  first  had  been  overwhelming  ;  it  gave  me 
such  a  surprising  turn  that  I  think,  were  it  possible 
to  die  of  sorrow,  or  of  joy,  I  had  had  in  a  short  time 
enough  to  finish  me  off.  But  I  was  reserved  for  other 
adventures/' 

J37 


138  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

The  fair,  but  fickle  S and  her  mother,  however, 

were  but  duping  the  poor  young  fellow,  for  there  was 
bigger  game  afoot  than  an  impecunious  young  foreigner, 
over  head  and  ears  in  debt,  who  could  not  keep  his 
fingers  away  from  cards. 

At  a  mutual  acquaintance's  he  met  a  Madame  de 
E ,  a  friend  of  S 's,  who — 

**  Hated  her  husband  more  than  a  woman  of  sixteen 
generally  does  a  husband  over  sixty.  I  had  seen  her 
before,  but  she  was  so  young  that  I  had  not  noticed  her 
much.  Happy  had  I  always  regarded  her  with  equal 
indifference  !  But  when  we  met  again  after  her  mar- 
riage, her  beauty,  her  well-bred  air,  her  fine  manners, 
made  a  deep  impression  upon  me.  They  set  me  to  play 
at  herlan  with  her  and  another  lady,  and  all  through 
the  game  she  did  nothing  but  tease  me  about  my  love 

for  S ,  insinuating  several  times  that  that  young 

lady  did  not  deserve  the  affection  I  had  for  her. 

"  As  I  did  not  know  whither  all  this  talk  was  tending, 
when  the  game  was  over  I  followed  the  lady  into  the 
recess  of  a  window,  where  I  begged  her  to  speak  plainly. 
For  a  long  time  she  demurred,  excusing  herself  under 
the  pretext  that  she  should  be  obliged  to  give  me  painful 
news.  All  this  dallying  made  me  only  more  and  more 
wishful  to  know  what  it  might  be,  and  I  pressed  her  so 
that,  at  last,  she  agreed  to  enlighten  me  somewhat. 

You  insist  upon  knowing  ?  '  said  she.  '  Very  well, 
then,  I  must  satisfy  you.  But  blame  yourself  only  if 
I  tell  you  things  which  will  cause  you  mortal  grief,  for 
I  know  your  temperament,  and  I  am  aware  that  you 

love  her.     You  imagine,'  she  continued,   '  that  S 

is  in  the  country.  You  have  been  deceived  ;  she  is  in 
Paris,  and  has  never  left  it.     She  loves  the  Marquis  de 

V as  nmch  as  he  loves  her  ;  she  sees  no  one  but  him, 

for  two  months  she  has  never  left  the  Faubourg  St. 
Antoine,  where  she  went  to  stay  when  she  heard  that 
you  were  arriving.  She  did  not  wish  to  lay  herself 
open  to  your  reproaches,  and,  as  she  hoped  you  would 


THE  VAGRANT  139 

forget  her,  she  had  you  told  tliat  she  was  dead.  But, 
when  she  heard  that  you  were  giving  way  to  grief,  she 
was  sorry  for  you,  and  had  you  told  that  she  was  still 
alive,  and  that  she  would  shortly  return  to  Paris.  In- 
deed, you  will  see  her  very  soon,  but  it  will  only  be 
to  receive  your  dismissal  and  to   hear  from  her  that 

she  prefers  V .     I  know  all  this  through  one  of  my 

lady's-maids,  whose  sister  is  in  Mademoiselle  de  S 's 

service.     As  for  me,  since  I  have  married  M.  de  R , 

it  is  no  longer  suitable  for  me  to  know  her.  You  had 
better  give  her  up  ;  you  will  find  better  than  she  !  ' 

"  As  she  said  these  last  words,  she  glanced  at  me  and 
blushed  instantly.  I  wished  to  reply,  but  she  left  me 
brusquely,  and  carefully  avoided  me  for  the  rest  of  the 
evening. 

'*  I  returned  home  with  my  mind  cruelly  agitated ; 
hatred,  love,  vengeance,  scorn — in  one  word,  all  the 
passions  of  a  lover,  despised  on  one  side  and  flattered 
on  the  other,  played  their  part.  Imagine  the  state  I 
was  in,  a  prey  to  such  conflicting  emotions.     At  last 

scorn  triumphed  over  my  love  for  S .     The  beaux 

yeux  of  Madame  de  R made  me  forget  my  fickle 

fair. 

"  But  I  soon  perceived  that  I  had  been  only  cured 
of  one  mad  passion  to  fall  into  another  of  the  same  kind. 

The  last  words  of  R seemed  very  flattering,  and 

I  really  thought  that  she  was  not  indifferent  to  me.  I 
soothed  myself  with  these  pleasing  ideas  and  found  an 
immense  delight  in  entangling  myself.  But  soon  I 
became  quite  as  much  the  dupe  of  this  new  conquest 

as  of  the  former  one.     Madame  de  R was  one  of  the 

most  beautiful  of  women,  and  without  doubt  one  of  the 
most  coquettish  in  Paris,  capricious  into  the  bargain, 
and  more  selfish  than  most  women  of  that  sort  generally 
are  ;  but  she  wished  to  be  loved,  and  I  went  headlong 
into  this  new  entanglement,  and  for  some  time  I  thought 
myself  the  happiest  man  in  the  world.  My  friends  were 
as  deceived  as  I  was,  and  for  a  long  time  they  thought 
me  the  only  favoured  one." 


140  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

But  these  "  silly  pleasures,"  as  Pollnitz  calls  them 
from  the  point  of  view  of  more  mature  years,  did  not 
prevent  him  seeking  the  furtherance  of  the  plan  he 
had  at  heart.  Soon  after  his  return  to  Paris  he  went 
to  Versailles,  and  paid  his  respects  to  the  King,  the 
Princes,  and  "  Madame.'" 

He  found  the  old  lady  had  felt  very  much  the  death 
of  her  aunt  the  Electress,  though  she  wrote  that  "  now 
she  is  free  from  all  pain,  and,  as  we  are  bound  to  believe 
as  Christians,  in  possession  of  the  Beatific  Vision/* 
She  had  grox^m  more  shut  up  in  herself,  no  longer  on 
such  terms  of  friendship  with  the  King,  which  she 
attributed  to  the  "  old  toad's  "  influence,  quoting  with 
reference  to  Madame  de  Maintenon  "  the  German 
proverb  which  says  that,  if  the  devil  cannot  go  to  a 
place  himself  he  sends  an  old  woman  ;  the  truth  of  this 
is  patent  to  all  us  members  of  the  Royal  Family." 

Madame  was  sad  and  lonely.  To  her  sister  Louise 
she  wrote  about  this  time  : 

"  I  live  in  this  Court  like  a  hermit.  ...  I  never  play, 
I  never  remain  in  the  drawing-room  where  all  assemble. 
...  I  am  all  the  time  in  my  rooms — where  I  read  and 
write  ;  my  only  joy,  and  my  only  consolation,  consisted 
in  writing  to  my  Aunt  the  Electress,  and  that  day  is 
over.     Think  what  my  life  is  now  !  " 

A  little  later : 

**  I  live  as  though  I  were  quite  alone  in  the  world. 
I  shall  never  see  my  daughter  again.  My  son  is  absorbed 
in  his  own  family,  and  only  comes  to  see  me  when 
others  are  by,  or  when  I  have  many  letters  to  write.  He 
comes  then,  so  as  to  avoid  seeing  me  in  private.  But 
I  am  resigned  to  this  state  of  things.  I  allow  him  and 
his  family  to  act  according  to  their  fancy,  and  I  meddle 
in  nothing.  I  go  to  visit  his  wife  and  daughter  as 
though  they  were  foreign  princesses." 


THE  VAGRANT  141 

Again : 

"  After  dinner  I  walked  about  my  room  for  half  an 
hour,  amused  myself  with  my  pets,  for  I  have  here  with 
me  two  parrots,  a  canary,  and  eight  little  dogs/' 

The  unexpected  reappearance  of  her  young  "  lands- 
mann  "  must  have  cheered  the  old  lady,  distressed  by  the 
dissipated  doings  of  her  son  and  her  granddaughter.  He 
brought  her  gossip  of  foreign  Courts,  and  amused  her  with 
his  stories. 

"  She  received  me,"  he  writes,  "  with  such  strong 
marks  of  kindness  that  1  thought  I  could  count  on  her 
support.  I  told  her  of  the  design  I  had  of  asking  His 
Majesty  for  employment.  I  begged  her  kindly  to 
recommend  me.  She  promised  to  do  so,  and  she  kept 
her  word  ;  not  only  did  she  speak  herself,  but  she  also 
made  the  Due  d'Orleans  speak  to  M.  Voisin,  Chancellor 
and  Minister  of  War." 

The  latter  promised  to  think  of  posting  Pollnitz, 
whom  Madame  had  presented  to  him  by  one  of  his 
officers. 

"  He  received  me  with  the  gruffest  air  I  have  seen. 
He  was  buried  in  an  immense  wig,  which  prevented  him 
seeing  or  hearing,  which  moreover  w^as  not  unnatural  to 
him.  He  only  listened  to  me,  moreover,  out  of  respect 
for  Madame.  He  told  me  that  the  King  had  made  a 
large  reduction  in  his  army,  and  was  about  to  make 
another,  that  he  saw  no  hope  of  any  opening  for  me." 

This  reply  was  so  different  to  the  promise  that  he 
had  given  to  Madame  and  the  Duke  that  Pollnitz 
reported  it  to  them,  and  the  Duke  replied  :  "  '  That's 
nothing.  FU  speak  to  him  yet  again,  and  I  am  sure  that 
you  will  be  satisfied."  He  did  indeed  speak  again,  but 
Voisin  did  no  more,  no  less/' 


142  A  yAGABOND  COURTIER 

However,  Pollnitz  was  grateful  to  Madame  and  to 
the  Duke,  and  continued  to  be  very  assiduous  in  his 
attentions  to  them,  with  which  they  seemed  pleased. 

The  recent  death  of  the  Due  de  Berri  had  completely 
altered  the  Duke  of  Orleans's  position.  As  the  nearest 
male  relative,  he  was  now  assured  of  the  Regency  when 
the  little  Dauphin  Louis  should  succeed  his  aged  and 
failing  great-grandfather.  But  this  probability  was  as 
yet  hardly  realized.  Pollnitz  often  went  to  the  Duke's 
coucher,  "  but  his  Court  was  not  numerous  then,  and, 
except  those  of  his  own  household,  I  was  very  often  the 
only  one  there.  .  .  .  Few  people  treated  the  Duke  as  the 
rising  sun,  the  respect  they  had  for  the  King  attached 
all  his  courtiers  to  hun  ;  a  reign  so  long  and  so  glorious 
seemed  to  them  as  if  it  would  never  end." 

When  the  mourning  for  the  Due  de  Berri  was  over 
came  a  recrudescence  of  spectacles  and  amusements 
for  some  distinguished  visitors  to  Paris.  The  entry  of 
the  Persian  ambassador  "  was  most  splendid,"  and  so 
was  his  reception  by  the  King,  though  Pollnitz  thought 
that  the  ambassador  himself  made  "  a  pitiable  show  "  : 
poor  coaches,  wretched  horses,  badly  dressed  servants  ; 
"  nor  were  the  presents  he  brought  worthy  of  him  who 
sent,  or  him  who  received  them." 

Out  of  curiosity  people  crowded  to  Charenton,  where 
the  ambassador  was  lodged,  and  Pollnitz  went  with  a 
friend.  The  interpreter  told  them  that  one  of  them 
must  make  him  a  polite  speech,  and  so  they  drew  lots 
with  bits  of  straw  as  to  which  it  was  to  be.  It  fell  to 
Pollnitz  to  make  a  short  harangue,  to  which  the  am- 
bassador replied;  but,  upon  further  questions,  they 
discovered  that  he  had  never  even  been  to  Ispahan  or 
seen  the  Grand  Sophy,  his  master.  He  regaled  them 
on  coffee  and  sweetmeats. 

With  regard  to  ceremonial,  he  was  not  amenable, 
giving  the  Baron  de  Breteuil,  who  had  been  put  in 
charge  of  him,  much  trouble,  because  he  refused  to 
comply  with  the  usual  etiquette  observed  by  all  who 
had   an   audience   of  the   King.    Never   had   Pollnitz 


THE  VAGRANT  143 

"  seen  such  a  concourse  as  watched  his  procession,  a 
crowd  from  the  first  gate  of  the  Faubourg  S.  Antoine 
to  the  Hotel  des  Ambassadeurs ;  there  were  stages 
erected  on  either  side,  full  of  people,"  and  a  crowd 
followed  hini  when  he  went  to  the  bath,  or  for  a  walk, 
and  people  were  so  inquisitive  that  he  could  hardly  get 
along. 

Pollnitz  was  present  at  the  grand  reception  the  King 
gave  hini  in  the  Grande  Galerie  at  Versailles  :  Louis, 
on  his  high  throne,  all  embroidered  in  gold,  wearing 
brown  velvet  and  millions  of  livres  of  jewels ;  by  his 
side  the  little  Dauphm,  in  cloth  of  gold  and  pearls 
and  diamonds  ;  the  Duke  of  Orleans  on  the  left,  in 
blue  velvet  with  gold  foint  d'Espagne  lace,  sewn  with 
pearls  and  diamonds  ;  all  the  Princes  of  the  Blood 
of  all  ages,  and  all  the  royal  ladies,  surrounding  the 
King.  On  tiers  of  seats  to  the  right  were  ladies,  on 
the  garden  side  of  the  gallery  gentlemen,  all  gorgeously 
dressed.  Priceless  carpets  strewed  the  gallery  down 
to  the  marble  staircase  ;  the  courtyards  were  filled  with 
Guards,  French  and  Swiss,  Bodyguard,  musketeers,  and 
the  Household,  in  order  of  battle.  But,  alas  !  the 
appearance  of  the  troops  was  unluckily  spoilt  by  a 
downpour  all  day. 

The  object  of  this  magnificent  spectacle  brought  but 
poor  presents  with  him,  considering  "  that  they  were 
sent  by  the  most  powerful  monarch  in  Asia  "  :  some 
turquoises,  a  sword  studded  with  jewels,  a  box  of  scent 
which  he  said  was  very  delicious.  All  the  time  he 
stayed  in  Paris  he  was  the  guest  of  the  Court.  At  first 
he  used  the  Kmg's  horses,  "  but,  as  he  stayed  so  long, 
and,  moreover,  as  he  ruined  them  all,  they  only  let 
him  have  them  on  hire."  After  a  while  he  came  to 
the  opera,  where  the  amphitheatre  had  been  specially 
prepared  for  him  and  his  suite.  "  Here  he  smoked  at 
his  ease,  in  spite  of  there  being  a  distinguished  company 
present." 

With  another  distinguished  visitor  to  Paris  Pollnitz  was 
already  acquainted.     The  Electoral  Prince  of  Saxony 


144  A  VAGABOND  COUKTIER 

"  came  incognito,  and  was  presented  to  the  King  by 
Madame  as  a  German  guest  of  good  family/'  He  gave 
a  magnificent  ball  at  the  Hotel  de  Soissons,  crowded 
with  masqueraders,  and  PoUnitz,  who  went  to  it,  had 
an  amusing  adventure.    Again  his  mysterious  initials 

are  provoking.     For  R may  we  read  the  "  little 

Due  de  Richelieu,  the  archidebauche,"  Madame  calls 
him,  "believmg  neither  in  God,  nor  his  word  .  .  . 
ugly  little  toad,  and  far  from  agreeable  in  manner  .  .  . 
all  the  ladies  in  love  with  him "  ?  He  was  only 
twenty. 

To  the  ball  came  one  whom  Pollnitz  describes  only 
as  the  Duchesse,  who  had  been  madly  in  love  with 

R ,  who  had  deserted  her  for  Madame  de  S . 

She  saw  R' enter  the  ballroom  with  V ,   his 

intimate  friend,  who  had  acted  as  their  go-between. 

"  The  Duchesse  was  masked,  but  was  instantly  recog- 
nized by  her  faithless  swain ;  she  attempted  to  waylay 
him,  but  he  cleverly  managed  to  escape  in  the  crowd, 
with  his  friend.    Fearing  the  Duchesse's  reproaches,  he 

decided  to  change  his  domino.     V also  changed  ; 

he  took  the  one  I  had,  and  gave  me  his.     R showed 

me  the  spot  where  he  had  seen  the  Duchesse  and  begged 
me  to  pass  before  her  but  not  to  answer  her  if  she  wished 
to  talk  to  me.  I  promised  everything  he  wished,  but  I 
was  determined  to  talk  if  occasion  offered.  This  soon 
occurred. 

"  I  must  tell  you  that  I  was  very  like  M.  de  V 

in  figure,  so  that  the  Duchesse  took  me  for  him  without 
a  moment's  hesitation.     She  drew  me  aside,  and,  still 

very  annoyed  that  R had  not  wished  to  speak 

to  her,  made  me  a  general  disclosure  of  their  intrigue. 
While  she  was  thus  in  full  swing  of  making  me  different 
confessions  which  I  thought  she  might  be  sorry  for 
when  she  knew  to  whom  she  was  speaking,  I  interrupted 
her  by  saying  that  I  was  not  V . 

*' '  What's  the  use  of  this  nonsense  ?  '  she  replied, 
bluntly.      '  Hear  me  to  the  end ;    this  is  no  time  for 


THE  VAGRANT  145 

joking.  You  know/  she  went  on,  '  that  I  granted 
everythmg  to  the  ungrateful  fellow !  ' 

"  I  interrupted  her  again. 

"  '  Ma  foi  !  Madame  !  I  did  not  know  a  word  of  all 
that !  ' 

"  She  laughed  at  me  for  pretending  to  be  ignorant  of 
what  she  said,  and  continued  to  talk  to  me  with  a 
clearness  and  candour  one  rarely  finds  in  those  sort  of 
recitals. 

*'  After  saying  a  great  deal  she  added  :  *  Well,  what 
do  you  say  now  ?  Speak ;  exculpate  your  friend  to 
me  ! ' 

"  '  1  think,"  I  replied,  '  that  R is  a  wretch  not  to 

value  as  he  should  the  kindness  you  show  him  ;  far 
from  exculpating  him  to  you,  I  intend  to  take  him  to 
task.  I  shall  repeat  to  him  all  you  have  done  me  the 
honour  to  tell  me  to-night.     I  am  certain,  though  I 

am  not  V ,  nor  a  particular  friend  of  R, 's,  that 

he  will  give  heed  to  what  I  have  to  say.' 

" '  Why,  Monsieur,'  replied  the  Duchesse,  '  why 
disguise  your  voice  ?  Why  deny  who  you  are  1  What 
have  I  done  that  I  should  be  treated  like  this  ?  ' 

"  '  Ma  foi  !  '  I  said  to  her.  '  I  am  not  imposing  on 
you.  See  for  yourself  !  '  and,  so  saying,  I  took  oft  my 
mask. 

"  I  cannot  tell  you  how  great  was  the  Lady's  astonish- 
ment. She  remained  speechless,  and,  in  her  confusion 
at  havmg  made  such  a  frank  confession  as  she  had  just 
given  me,  she  hesitated  as  to  whether  to  speak  to  me 
or  to  withdraw. 

"  Her  state  of  mind  made  me  feel  quite  sorry  for  her, 
and  I  did  all  I  could  to  reassure  her.  I  begged  her  to 
be  convinced  that  I  should  maintain  an  inviolable 
silence  as  to  what  she  had  said,  and  that  I  felt  quite  as 
much  as  she  did  how  important  it  was  not  to  divulge 
news  of  that  kind.  The  good  lady  gradually  began  to 
be  more  easy,  and  after  that  we  had  talked  together 
for  rather  a  long  time,  she  begged  me  to  give  her  my 
hand,  and  to  find  her  her  coach.     It  was  impossible  to 

I — 10 


146  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

discover  either  her  coach,  or  mine,  so  she  decided  to  get 
into  a  hackney  carriage.  I  escorted  her  to  her  hotel ; 
she  begged  me  to  be  kind  enough  to  go  back  to  the  ball, 
and  to  tell  the  ladies  I  had  seen  her  with  that  she  was 
not  feeling  well.  I  carried  out  her  orders  exactly,  and 
I  did  not  fail  to  call  upon  her  next  day.  This  visit  led 
to  others,  which  gave  me  an  opportunity  of  forming 
rather  an  intimate  acquaintanceship.  I  had  the  honour 
of  being  very  much  her  friend,  and  I  have  found  her 
to  possess  many  accomplishments  which  made  her  the 
best  company  in  the  world. 

"  What  was  so  amusing  in  this  adventure  was  that 

R had  a  furious  quarrel  with  the  Duchesse  for  having 

had  such  a  long  conversation  at  the  ball  with  a  mask. 
He  made  believe  that  he  was  jealous,  and  wrote  to  her 
a  scathing  letter  next  day,  in  which  he  gave  her  to 
understand  that  he  broke  with  her  utterly. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  Madame  de  R ,  with  whom 

I  had  come  to  the  ball,  and  with  whom  I  was  still  madly 
in  love,  made  use  of  the  conversation  I  had  had  with 
the  Duchesse  to  make  believe  to  be  jealous  (I  have  since 
discovered  that  she  was  not  really  so).  She  exaggerated 
the  sorrow  such  a  long  conversation  had  given  her.  I 
was  fool  enough  to  believe  that  she  was  speaking  truth- 
fully, and,  further,  to  be  delighted  to  have  made  her 
jealous.  I  reassured  her  as  to  her  doubts,  in  that  I  said 
everything  a  lover  says  who  is  really  in  love,  and  who 
wishes  to  convince  his  beloved.  She  seemed  satisfied 
with  my  protestations ;  but,  however,  instead  of  re- 
sponding to  the  feelings  I  had  for  her,  she  continued 
to  annoy  me  all  the  rest  of  the  winter.  Her  very 
coquettish  behaviour  aggrieved  me,  and  moreover  I  did 

not  like  to  meet  the  Marquis  de  V so  often  at  her 

house. 

*'  For  a  long  time  I  had  owed  this  Marquis  a  grudge  ; 

it  was  he  who  had  taken  S from  me,  and  no  sooner 

was  I  in  Madame  de  R 's  good  graces  than  he  found 

a  way  of  insinuating  himself  into  them.  I  was  so 
annoyed  at  finding  him  always  at  my  heels  that  I  picked 


THE  VAGRANT  147 

a  quarrel  with  him  one  day  at  C ,  where  we  met  at 

the  President  de  Novion's.     We  had  already  come  to 

blows,  when  Madame  de  C came  and  separated  us. 

V assured  me  that  he  had  no  intentions  with  regard 

to  Madame  de  R ;    he  promised  me  that  he  would 

leave  off  visiting  her  if  I  wished  it.  He  did  indeed  keep 
his  word,  and  I  was  very  pleased  with  him  ;  but  not  so 

Madame   de   R .     I   quite   saw  that   I   was   being 

deceived.  Every  day  I  discovered  fresh  grounds  for  sus- 
pecting her ;  but,  in  spite  of  it  all,  I  hugged  the  fetters 
with  which  she  enslaved  me,  and  in  so  doing  I  belied 
the  opinion  of  those  who  affirm  that  one  loves  but  once. 
Yet  I  should  have  reflected  over  this  new  passion,  for 
it  was  quite  ruinous  to  me. 

"  Madame  de  R loved  extravagance,  and,  to  suc- 
ceed with  her,  one  had  to  make  a  lavish  outlay.  To 
keep  myself  afloat  I  borrowed  money  hither  and  thither, 
and  soon  I  found  it  impossible  to  find  any  one  to  lend 
me  any  ;  on  the  contrary,  my  creditors  began  to  pay 
me  frequent  visits.  Weary  of  the  constant  remittances 
I  doled  out  to  them,  they  decided  to  have  the  law  of 
me,  and  at  last  they  obtained  a  warrant  for  my  arrest. 

"  I  was  much  upset  by  the  news,  and,  in  order  to  avoid 
their  wrath,  I  thought  it  best  to  keep  my  room  for  a 
few  days,  till  M.  de  Novion  had  got  for  me  an  injunction 
of  arrest.  I  began  to  breathe  freely  again,  and  at  the 
same  time  I  considered  means  of  raising  money.  I 
knew  the  difficulty  there  was  of  drawing  from  home  a 
sum  large  enough  to  satisfy  them  ;  all  my  property  was 
entailed  on  my  brother  and  Mademoiselle  de  Pollnitz, 
who  had  no  intention  of  giving  her  consent  to  any 
security  on  my  estates. 

"  However,  as  this  was  the  only  means  of  getting  out 
of  the  difficulty,  I  set  my  friends  to  work  to  influence 
her.  They  served  me  so  well  that  at  last  she  agreed 
to  give  her  consent ;  the  loans  were  negotiated  and  I 
got  out  of  my  plight  happily.  The  trouble  I  had  been 
in  made  me  wiser  ;  I  curtailed  my  expenditure.  I 
perceived  that  this  was  not  the  way  to  retain  Madame 


148  A  VAGABOND  COUETIER 

R 's  good  graces ;   but  what  was  to  be  done  ?     To 

plunge  into  debt  again,  to  risk  having  another  bad 
business  on  my  hands — I  could  not  make  up  my  mind 
to  that.  At  the  same  time  I  obtained  a  pension  of  two 
thousand  livres,  but,  as  for  an  appointment,  it  was 
impossible  to  wring  that  out  of  the  War  Minister/' 

Pollnitz  was  so  disgusted  at  his  want  of  success  that, 
in  spite  of  his  devotion  to  Paris  and  to  Madame  de 

K ,  he  determined  to  try  his  luck  at  obtaining  a 

commission  in  the  army  elsewhere.  Hanover,  Paris, 
Berlin,  Dresden,  Berlin  and  Paris  again,  all  had  been 
drawn  blank.     There  remained  the   Imperial  service. 

He  wrote  to  the  Prince  de  H ,  in  one  of  the  Emperor's 

Guards,  and  colonel  of  an  infantry  regiment,  and,  as 
such,  entitled  to  distribute  the  commissions  in  it.  He 
replied  most  obligingly  that  he  would  be  delighted  to 
take  Pollnitz  into  his  regiment,  but  that,  unluckily, 
the  only  vacancy  in  it  was  that  caused  by  the  projected 
retirement  of  an  old  captain  who  would  sell  his  company 
for  two  thousand  crowns.  "  To  find  the  two  thousand 
crowns  was,  in  the  plight  I  was  now  in,  like  finding  the 
philosopher's  stone." 

Pollnitz  made  up  his  mind  to  try  what  verbal  per- 
suasion would  effect  with  the  aged  warrior,  and  he 

hied  him  to  Bruges,  where  the  Prince  de  H was 

quartered  with  his  regiment.  But  he  found  the  captain 
adamant ;  it  must  be  money,  or  old  silver  plate.    Prince 

H ,  really  well  disposed  to  Pollnitz,  and  who  knew 

how  his  affairs  stood,  wrote  to  Charlotte  Henrietta  to 
induce  her  to  consent  to  a  fresh  loan.  Pollnitz  also 
wrote  himself. 

But  all  these  efforts  were  of  no  avail.  Fraulein  von 
Pollnitz  sent  answers  "  full  of  wit,  in  which  she  described 
me  very  frankly,  and  was  clever  enough  to  persuade 
the  Prince  that  he  might  as  well  arm  a  lunatic  as  give 
me  leave  to  borrow  more  money." 

So  Pollnitz  left  the  company  to  which  he  had  been 
temporarily  attached  pending  his  buying  it,  and  quitted 


THE  VAGRANT  149 

Bruges,  vowing  it  "  one  of  the  dullest  places  to  stay  in 
for  a  man  who  is  not  a  merchant."  In  describing  it  he 
incidentally  mentions  that  "  Charles  II  sought  refuge 
there  when  his  subjects  rebelled  against  him,  and  he 
was  so  well  received  that,  when  he  Was  peacefully  on 
his  throne,  he  showed  his  gratitude  by  allowing  the 
Brugeois  to  come  annually  with  fifty  vessels  to  the 
herring  fishery  off  the  English  coast." 

With  the  Prince  and  Princess  de  H the  Baron 

went  to  Nieuport,  where  the  former's  regiment  had  a 
detachment,  and  inspected  the  field  where  his  great 
ancestor,  Maurice  of  Orange,  had  won  a  notable  victory 
over  the  Spanish.  Thence,  with  the  Dutch  Governor, 
the  Prince  of  Holstein,  he  went  on  to  Ypres,  a  frontier 
garrison  of  the  Dutch,  and  then  drove  to  Lille,  and 
back  to  Paris. 


CHAPTER    IX 

When  Pollnitz  returned  to  Paris  lie  once  more  came 
across  the  enemy  of  his  boyhood,  whose  oHve-branch  he 
had  recently  found  himself  obliged  to  decline.  Countess 
Wartenberg  had  betaken  herself  to  Paris,  and  was 
figuring  there  as  The  Lady  of  the  Diamonds,  because 
her  gems  were  so  many  and  so  large.  Pollnitz  relates 
the  story  of  her  latest  adventures,  which  were  con- 
vulsing Paris. 

*'  She  had  followed  the  Chevalier  de  B to  Paris, 

and  he  had  given  her  a  signed  promise  of  marriage,  at 
Utrecht,  where  it  will  be  remembered  that  she  had 
fallen  in  love  with  him  during  the  Congress.  At 
Versailles,  where  she  had  the  honour  of  paying  her 
respects  to  the  King,  she  appeared  wearing  a  bracelet 
with  the  portraits  of  three  monarchs.  This  she  showed 
to  the  King,  and  informed  him  that,  after  having  had 
three  Kings  at  her  feet,  she  came  from  the  depths  of 
Germany  to  throw  herself  at  his.  This  compliment 
surprised  the  King ;  he  looked  at  her,  but  made  no 
reply.  A  few  days  later  she  appeared  at  the  theatre 
all  bristling  with  diamonds.  The  gilded  youth  of 
society  plotted  to  pull  some  off,  and  every  cadet  of  good 
family  fancied  that  diamonds  would  become  him  quite 
as  well  as  the  Countess.  A  few  were  indeed  filched 
from  her,  which  caused  her  to  be  a  little  more  reserved 
in  her  parade  of  them.    Nevertheless,  notwithstanding 

the  care  she  took  of  them,  the  Chevalier  de  B 

cleverly  managed  one  day  to  remove  them  all  from  her. 
It  was  at  the  time  when  he  was  considering  the  with- 
drawal of  the  contract  of  marriage  which  he  had  signed  ; 

160 


THE  VAGRANT  151 

his  family  were  pressing  him  to  extricate  himself.  But, 
not  knowing  how  to  set  about  retrieving  of  a  promise 
which  the  lady  declined  to  give  up,  he  made  use  of  a 
rather  uncommon  expedient. 

"  One  day,  when  he  was  at  Versailles,  he  took  post- 
horses  and  came  to  Madame  de  Wartenberg.  He  said 
that  the  King  had  just  received  a  courier  from  Berlin, 
by  whom  the  King  of  Prussia  begged  him  to  arrest  her 
and  seize  her  diamonds  and  other  effects,  as  they  had 
been  stolen  from  the  King,  his  father. 

"  '  I    have   just   been    informed    about    this,"    said 

the   Chevalier,  '  by  M.   de  T ,  who,  knowing   how 

interested  I  am  in  all  that  concerns  you,  wished 
to  give  me  a  chance  of  being  useful  to  you,  in  pro- 
tecting you  from  the  misfortune  with  which  you  are 
threatened." 

**  The  Countess  was  startled  by  this  news.  With 
much  emotion  she  exclaimed  to  the  Chevalier  :  '  Eh  ! 
Mon  Dieu  !   What  shall  we  do  ?  ' 

You  must  entrust  me  with  your  diamonds, '  he 
replied  ;  '  your  interests  and  mine  are  the  same.  I  do 
not  think  that  you  suspect  me,  and  I  will  take  them 
to  my  father,  where  they  will  be  safe.     Moreover,  do 

not  be  uneasy  about  yourself.     For  M.  de  T says 

that  they  are  only  after  your  valuables,  and  will  not 
arrest  you.' 

"  Madame  de  Wartenberg  believed  all  this,  and, 
taking  the  Chevalier  for  her  guardian  angel,  she  handed 
him  over  all   her  diamonds  and  everything   precious 

she  possessed.     B went  off  with  the  booty.     The 

Countess  thought  she  had  done  a  good  stroke  in  thus 
placing  her  valuables  in  safety,  but  ere  long  she  saw 
that  she  had  acted  foolishly. 

"  For  three  or  four  days  B did  not  appear.     The 

Countess  was  surprised  at  his  absence,  and  wrote  him 
note  after  note  without  receiving  a  single  reply.  At 
last,  on  the  fifth  day,  B came  and  somewhat  re- 
assured the  good  lady.     He  told  her  that  her  jewels 


152  A  VAGABOND  COUETIEE 

were  in  safety,  and  that  she  could  have  them  when  she 
Hked,  on  one  small  condition,  which  was  to  return  him 
the  marriage  promise  he  had  given  her.  The  Countess 
was  extremely  surprised  at  this  compliment,  and  told 
him  that  a  Countess  of  the  Empire  was  not  to  be  treated 
in  this  guise,  and  that  she  had  come  to  Paris  because 
he  had  given  her  his  word  that  he  would  marry  her, 
and  that  she  could  easily  force  him  to  do  so. 

"  B ,  who  had  made  up  his  mind  to  break  with 

her  at  any  price,  told  her  that  she  was  free  to  choose 
one  of  the  two  offers  he  made,  which  were,  either  to  go 
to  law,  in  which  case  she  would  infallibly  lose  her  jewels, 
or,  to  recover  them  by  returning  to  him  the  paper  he 
asked  for. 

"  He  demonstrated  that,  by  a  law-suit,  he  hoped  easily 
to  win,  as  much  on  account  of  the  justice  of  his  case  as 
by  his  parents'  great  influence,  and  that,  as  to  the  jewels, 
as  there  had  been  no  witnesses  when  she  handed  them 
over  to  him,  he  should  take  a  bold  line  with  her  and 
deny  that  he  had  ever  received  them  ;  yet,  that  he 
should  sell  a  part  of  them  in  order  to  be  able  to  go 
to  law. 

"  The  Countess,  perceiving  that  the  Chevalier  was  a 
man  likely  to  act  as  he  said,  and  that  she  had  nothing 
to  gain,   decided  to  return  the  promise  of  marriage. 

B at  once  brought  back  her  diamonds,  and  this 

good  faith  on  his  part  prompted  Madame  de  War- 
tenberg  to  make  him  a  present  of  a  ring,  valued  at 
twenty  thousand  livres.  Thus  ended  her  intimacy 
with  B . 

"  The  Countess,  in  order  to  console  herself  for  the 
loss  of  one  lover,  decided  to  have  others  ;  but  she  was 
not  happy  in  her  different  choices.  They  were  all 
unreliable  people,  she  said,  mostly  rather  thievish ;  in 
short,  she  gave  up  all  intercourse  with  the  French, 
thinking  them  too  clever  for  her,  and  fell  to  praising 
Germans  in  such  matters,  saying  they  were  the  best 
in  the  world. 

*'  However,  she  soon  had  experience  to  the  contrary, 


THE  VAGRANT  153 

and  at  her  own  expense.  Having  made  the  acquamt- 
ance  of  a  fine,  handsome  young  Teuton,  they  promised 
each  other  to  get  married  directly  they  found  them- 
selves in  a  Protestant  country.  A  contract  was  soon 
signed.  The  cavalier  thought  that,  after  the  signature, 
the  nuptial  benediction  was  quite  an  unnecessary 
ceremony  in  order  to  enter  into  community  of  goods, 
and  that  his  rights  began  directly  the  conditions  were 
signed.  On  this  principle  he  thought  well  to  carry  off 
all  his  future  spouse's  jewels.  He  left  Paris,  and  set 
out  to  reach  Lorraine. 

"  The  Countess  was  soon  informed  of  his  departure. 
Her  lover's  perfidy  caused  her  a  mortal  anguish,  but 
the  danger  her  diamonds  were  in  went  most  to  her 
heart.  Happily  she  knew  the  road  her  lover  had  taken, 
and  sent  after  him.  He  was  found  at  Meaux,  where 
he  had  imprudently  halted,  and  was  brought  back  to 
Paris,  where  the  Countess,  denying  any  contract  of 
marriage  with  this  young  man,  was  ready  to  get  him 
into  trouble.  The  Electoral  Prince  of  Saxony,  however, 
under  whose  protection  the  young  fellow  was,  stopped 
all  the  proceedings  against  him,  and  had  the  jewels 
returned  to  Madame  de  Wartenberg.  She  did  not 
insist  on  the  performance  of  the  promise  of  marriage 
made  by  this  last  lover,  for,  not  being  of  a  nature  to 
remain  long  idle,  she  had  already  contracted  a  secret 

alliance    with    F .     These    different    little    affairs, 

however,  following  so  quickly  one  upon  the  other,  made 
so  much  talk  that  the  Countess  thought  it  as  well 
not  to  make  a  longer  stay  in  Paris,  and  went  back  to 
Holland." 

Pollnitz  was  in  Paris  at  the  time  of  the  death  of 
Louis  XIV,  of  which  he  gives  a  description.  He  says, 
however,  that  Madame  de  Maintenon  returned  to  the 
King's  death-bed,  which  she  had  left  when  he  fell  into  a 
deep  stupor,  from  which  it  was  thought  he  would  not 
revive,  and  tells  us  that  she  was  present  at  the  end. 
As  Pollnitz  was  unbiased,  being  of  the  opposite  camp 


154  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

to  *'  the  old  woman,"  his  testimony  may  remove  an 
aspersion  of  heartlessness  which  her  enemies  have  cast 
upon  her. 

He  was  struck  by  the  promptitude  with  which  the 
courtiers,  directly  the  breath  was  out  of  Louis's  body, 
flung  themselves  at  the  feet  of  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  "  as 
the  only  fountain  of  favours,'"  though  the  colleagues 
with  whom  Louis's  will  had  provided  the  Duke  "  had 
tied  his  hands  in  such  fashion  as  to  leave  him  only  a 
shadow  of  the  Regency."  Time  showed,  however,  that 
he  was  clever  enough  to  hold  his  own,  and  to  go  his  own 
way. 

There  were  many  changes  in  court  life.  After  the 
Lit  de  Justice  inaugurating  the  new  reign,  at  which 
Philip  d'Orleans  asserted  himself  so  masterfully,  the  baby 
King  returned  to  Vincennes,  where  he  had  lived  during 
his  great-grandfather's  lifetime,  till  the  Tuileries  was 
ready  for  him.  The  Regent  and  the  Royal  Princes 
returned  to  Paris,  and  to  their  own  hotels.  The  Regent 
hved  at  the  Palais  Royal,  Madame  with  him,  and  the 
Luxembourg  Palace  was  given  to  the  widowed  Duchesse 
de  Berri,  the  Regent's  favourite  child,  who  immediately 
set  up  great  state.  She  demanded  a  captain  of  guards. 
Hitherto  only  the  Queen  had  had  this  privilege.  Madame, 
hearing  of  it,  promptly  appointed  Captain  von  Hartwig, 
her  Captain  of  Guards.  She  loved  to  have  Germans 
about  her,  and  he  was  the  son  of  her  old  governess,  and 
had  been  her  page  as  a  boy.  Moreover,  in  spite  of  the 
Duchess's  pretensions  to  it,  she  insisted  on  retaining 
her  old  title  of  plain  "  Madame,"  and  the  daughter- 
in-law  and  granddaughter  had  to  add  their  own  titles 
to  the  "  Madame."  The  headstrong  young  Duchess, 
"  the  best  Princess  in  the  world,"  Pollnitz  calls  her,  "  so 
accessible,  also  had  herself  preceded  by  cymbals  and 
trumpets  when  in  state."  But  she  was  no  stickler  on 
ceremony  with  most  of  the  ladies,  allowing  them  to  come 
to  her  in  scarves,  for  she  did  not  care  about  dressing 
herself.  Madame,  on  the  other  hand,  was  more  par- 
ticular.    She  always  wore  court  dress  and  never  allowed 


THE  VAGRANT  155 

any  one  except  old  or  invalid  ladies  to  visit  her  in  any- 
thing else. 

The  Regent  introduced  many  changes  in  adminis- 
tration and  taxation,  which,  especially  the  tax  on  gens 
d'affaires,  made  him  very  unpopular.  People  began  to 
regret  the  old  King,  and  the  Regent  knew  it.  "I  was 
one  day  at  Madame's,''  writes  Pollnitz,  ''  when  the 
Prince  said,  out  loud  :  '  Six  months  ago  I  was  adored 
in  Paris ;  to-day  I  am  hated.  I  should  very  much  like 
to  know  why.'  " 

Another  reason  was  the  restriction  of  currency,  and 
the  introduction  of  a  paper-money  system,  the  Billets 
d'Etat.  Moreover,  there  was  no  method  or  stability 
at  the  Palais  Royal.  The  good-natured  Regent  pro- 
mised everything  to  everybody,  but  rarely  kept  his 
word.  He  was  naturally  disinclined  to  business,  hurry- 
ing through  affairs  in  the  mornings,  that  he  might  have 
the  late  afternoons  and  the  nights  free  for  his  saturn- 
alia. Cardinal  Dubois,  "  the  confounded  priest,  the 
evil  toad,  the  greatest  liar  and  impostor  in  Paris  " 
(Madame  never  forgave  him  for  arranging  her  son's 
marriage),  really  governed  France  and  the  Regent. 

By  a  side-wind,  these  financial  reforms,  by  means 
of  which  the  Regent  was  striving  to  pay  for  the 
extravagance  and  the  debts  of  the  late  King,  affected 
poor  Pollnitz,  though  he  was  in  the  Regent's  favour. 
For  pensions  granted  by  the  late  King  were  suppressed, 
and  among  them  that  of  Pollnitz — 

"  Which  I  had  had  such  difficulty  in  obtaining.  .  .  . 
I  made  several  efforts  to  re-establish  myself.  But  all 
that  I  could  obtain  was  that  my  pension  should  soon 
be  restored  to  me.  That  promise  has  yet  to  be  fulfilled  ! 
The  withdrawal  of  pensions,  added  to  the  large  reduc- 
tions made  in  the  army,  reduced  many  people  to  beggary. 
At  that  time  I  saw  Knights  of  St.  Louis  waiting  till 
dusk  in  order  to  ask  for  alms  in  the  public  square.  From 
this  extreme  misery  ensued,  as  may  well  be  imagined, 
robberies  and  murders,  so  that  all  that  time  Paris  was 
rather  like  a  wood.      Dread  of  sharing  the  common 


156  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

impecuniosity  led  me  to  be  more  assiduous  than  ever 
with  Madame/' 

Despite  her  new  position  as  mother  of  the  Regent, 
much  sought  after,  the  old  lady  was  depressed  and 
grumbling. 

"  Every  day,"  she  wrote,  "  brings  me  a  flood  of  bores 
who  are  a  veritable  plague ;  each  one  wishes  me  to 
intercede  in  his  favour.  When  I  am  at  table  I  am  sur- 
rounded by  a  hundred  faces,  and  I  have  to  talk  whether 
I  am  grave  or  gay.  All  through  the  day  people  come 
and  disturb  me  at  my  reading  or  writing,  and  I  am 
forced  to  entertain  them.  This  lasts  till  eight  in  the 
evening ;  in  short,  I  am  pestered  and  vexed.'' 

Pollnitz  implored  her  very  urgently  to  use  her  interest 
with  the  Regent  on  his  behalf.  But  to  him  she  answered, 
as  to  the  rest,  that  her  son  discouraged  any  interference, 
that  she  was  powerless.     However — 

"  She  told  me  that  I  need  not  be  uneasy,  because  it 
was  not  necessary  for  her  to  speak  to  the  Prince,  her  son, 
about  me,  as  he  was  naturally  inclined  to  favour  me  ; 
but  that,  at  present,  he  was  so  overwhelmed  with  business 
and  requests  that  I  really  must  have  patience,  and  wait 
some  time  yet.  I  replied  that  I  would  willingly  wait 
as  long  as  His  Royal  Highness  pleased,  but  that  I 
feared  very  much  that  I  should  not  be  in  a  position 
to  wait  long.     Madame  replied  : 

"  *  There  is  a  cure  for  everything.  Be  present  in 
my  study  to-morrow,  when  my  dinner  is  over.' 

"  I  obeyed  her  order  punctually.  I  found  her  alone  ; 
when  she  saw  me  she  said  :  '  I  am  a  poor  widow  who 
cannot  do  much  good,  but  I  mean  to  please  you.' 

"  Then  she  ordered  me  to  open  a  desk  of  which  she 
gave  me  the  key,  and  to  take  out  of  it  a  bag  which  was 
in  a  corner,  and  in  which  there  were  more  than  a  thou- 


THE  VAGRANT  157 

sand  livres  in  gold.  I  thanked  her  with  all  possible 
gratitude,  and  this  new  proof  of  kindness  attached  me 
to  Her  Royal  Highness  more  than  ever/' 

But  if  Madame  did  not  interfere  with  her  son,  she 
continued  to  criticize  the  behaviour  of  her  flighty  grand- 
daughter quite  as  sharply  as  in  the  days  when  the  old 
King  was  wont  to  call  her  in  to  his  aid  to  lecture  the 
headstrong  Duchesse  de  Berri.  If  Madame  demanded  to 
the  last  iota  what  was  due  to  her  own  rank,  she  con- 
ceded as  much  to  those  to  whom  it  was  due. 

*'  I  heard  her  once  speak  very  sharply  on  this  subject 
to  Madame  la  Duchesse  de  Berri,"  chronicles  Pollnitz, 
"  and  in  truth  no  one  but  Madame  would  have  taken 
this  tone  with  this  Princess.  Madame  de  Berri  came 
one  evening  to  Madame  in  a  scarf  (head  unpowdered 
and  undressed).  When  she  had  been  there  half  an 
hour  she  asked  her  lady,  Madame  de  Mouchy,  the  time. 
Madame  asked  why  she  was  inquiring  of  Madame  de 
Mouchy.  Madame  de  Berri  replied  that  she  was  going 
to  the  Tuileries,  and  wished  to  know  the  time. 

"  *  What  ?  To  the  Tuileries  ?  '  said  Madame.  '  Are 
you  going  to  walk  about  by  torchlight  ?  ' 

"  '  No,  Madame,'  said  Madame  de  Berri, '  I'm  going  to 
see  the  King.' 

"  '  The  King  ?  '  said  Madame.  '  Please  allow  me 
to  tell  you  how  surprised  I  am  !  To  the  King,  Madame, 
dressed  like  that  ?  I  think  you  must  know  too  well 
what  is  due  to  him.  Do  not  do  such  a  thing,  Madame, 
I  beg  you.  Render  to  the  King  the  respect  you  owe 
him,  and  then  you  will  be  able  to  demand  that  every 
one  shall  render  you  what  is  due  to  you.' 

"  Madame  de  Berri,  not  pleased,  wanted  to  reply. 
Madame  interrupted  her. 

"  '  No,  Madame,  nothing  can  excuse  you  ;  you  can 
at  least  dress,  on  the  rare  occasions  you  go  to  the  King, 
as  I  dress  every  day — I,  who  am  your  grandmother. 
Say  frankly,  it  is  laziness  prevents  you  doing  what  is 


158  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

in  keeping  with  your  age  and  rank.  A  princess  should 
be  dressed  as  a  princess  ;   a  soubrette  as  a  soubrette/ 

"  Madame  de  Berri,  unaccustomed  to  receive  such 
scoldings,  was  very  much  taken  aback  by  this  lecture. 
She  then  did  what  she  was  in  the  habit  of  doing  when 
anything  displeased  her,  and  good  manners  did  not  allow 
of  her  showing  haughtiness  ;  she  rose,  made  a  deep 
curtsey,  and  went  out. 

"  Madame  began  writing  again  while  going  on  talking 
on  the  same  subject,  and  still  with  some  heat.  She 
said,  looking  at  all  those  who  were  present :  '  But  am 
I  wrong  in  speaking  thus  to  the  Duchesse  de  Berri  ? 
What  do  you  say  ?  ' 

"  You  can  imagine  that  every  one  kept  a  solemn 
silence,  and,  as  she  went  on  talking  in  the  same  way, 
it  was  very  embarrassing  for  all  those  who  were  in  the 
study.  But  Madame  the  Princesse  de  Conti  came  in, 
which  changed  the  conversation.'' 

Poor  old  Madame  !  She  was  straining  at  a  gnat. 
She,  against  whose  moral  character  slander  had  never 
breathed  a  word,  was  lecturing,  on  a  trivial  breach  of 
etiquette,  a  granddaughter  whose  notorious  profligacy 
was  a  byword  in  Paris,  the  theme  of  the  lampooners 
of  the  day.  What  a  sidelight  on  the  eighteenth  century 
worship  of  "  the  divinity  that  doth  hedge  a  King  "  ! 

To  much  the  same  point  of  view  as  that  of  Madame 
were  due  the  wrangles  between  the  Dukes  and  the 
Peers  and  the  Parliament  over  precedence  and  etiquette, 
which  sent  some  of  the  nobility  to  the  Bastille  ;  like- 
wise the  limiting  the  precedence  of  the  Legitimized 
Princes  of  the  Blood  to  their  lifetime,  though  Louis  had 
made  it  hereditary  and  even  granted  right  of  succession 
to  the  Crown.  Feeling  ran  high  at  Court,  which  was 
rent  in  parties  over  these  questions. 

Then  there  came  the  disastrous  expedition  of  the 
Chevalier  de  St.  Georges  to  Scotland.  Pollnitz  attri- 
butes James's  failure  to  his  intolerance,  which  alienated 
the  Scottish  Protestants  who  had  joined  him  in  great 


THE  VAGRANT  159 

numbers.  He  mentions  that  he  heard  that  one  day,  in 
Scotland,  he  got  up  from  dinner  because  an  Anglican  cleric 
had  said  grace  !  Pollnitz  was  present  when  a  report 
of  this  was  made  to  the  Regent.  "  '  If  that  is  all  true,' 
he  replied, '  it  is  not  surprising  that  he  has  not  succeeded, 
and  I  consider  him  a  lost  Prince.' 

*'  At  the  same  time,"  writes  Pollnitz,  "  I  noticed  on 
his  face  and  on  that  of  Madame's  a  certain  expression 
of  satisfaction,  which  showed  that  that  day  they  were 
pleased  that  the  Elector  of  Hanover  had  become  even 
more  firmly  seated  upon  the  throne  of  England."  Louis 
had  supported  James  II  and  his  son,  and  had  intended, 
eventually,  to  have  the  Crown  restored  to  them.  But 
the  Regent,  in  this,  as  in  other  matters,  reversed  his 
uncle's  policy. 

The  Chevalier,  on  his  return,  passed  through  France 
incognito,  and  took  refuge  at  Avignon.  The  Regent, 
though  he  did  not  yield  to  pressure  from  England,  and 
arrest  him,  broke  the  English  and  Irish  officers  in  his 
service  who  had  followed  James  to  Scotland. 

In  Paris  Pollnitz  found  there  was  great  pity  felt  for 
Mary  of  Modena,  the  Queen-mother — 

"  Who  had  ruined  some  of  her  friends  who  had  made 
great  efforts  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the  ill-starred 
expedition.  .  .  .  Though  the  House  of  Orleans  was  not 
very  sympathetic  over  the  misfortunes  of  the  Chevalier 
de  St.  Georges,  it  did  not  deter  Madame  from  going  to 
Chaillot  to  condole  with  the  Queen  over  her  fresh  mis- 
fortunes. I  was  at  the  Palais-Royal  when  Madame 
returned  from  this  visit,  and  she  honoured  me  by  telling 
me  that  she  had  just  wept  copiously.  I  pretended  not 
to  be  aware  of  the  cause  of  her  tears,  and  I  took  the 
liberty  of  asking  her  what  could  have  troubled  her. 

The  poor  Queen  of  England,'  she  said  to  me,  '  has 
just  made  me  feel  very  sorry  for  her.  I  have  just  wept 
with  her.' 

"  I  could  not  help  showing  to  Madame  how  surprised 
I  was  over  this  grief,  fancying  that  she  was  more  inter- 


160  A  VAGABOND  COUHTIER 

ested  in  the  House  that  ruled  England  than  in  a  Prince 
who  was  no  relation  to  her,  and,  moreover,  used  to 
misfortune. 

"  *  You  are  right,'  Madame  replied  to  me,  *  all  those 
who  belong  to  my  late  aunt  are  dear  to  me,  and  I  wish 
them  well.  But  this  poor  Queen  is  so  upset  it  seems 
as  if  she  were  even  now  losing  the  Crown  of  England. 
What  can  be  done  ?  She  must,  indeed,  console  herself  ; 
her  destiny  is  not  to  be  happy,  and,  if  any  one  is  to  be 
unfortunate,  I  would  rather  it  were  she  than  the  King 
of  England.     But  one  must  not  say  so.' 

"  Madame  de  Berri  having  come  in  a  moment  after, 
Madame  told  her  that  she  had  been  to  see  the  Queen  of 
England,  and  that  she  might  as  well  have  been  to  see 
the  nymph  Arethusa. 

"  Madame  la  Duchesse  replied  that  it  was  not  surpris- 
ing to  see  people  in  such  grief  as  the  Queen  weeping. 

Well,"  replied  Madame,  '  after  thirty  years  of  mis- 
fortune one  ought  to  be  used  to  it !  ' 

"  And  thus  the  Princess  dried  the  tears  she  had  just 
so  abundantly  shed.'' 

When  the  summer  came  Madame  left  Paris,  which 
she  always  disliked,  saying  the  smoke  made  her  feel  ill, 
for  S.  Cloud,  which  she  loved — "  the  most  beautiful 
grounds  " — taking  with  her  her  step-granddaughters. 
Pollnitz  often  went  out  to  S.  Cloud  to  her. 

"  I  spoke  to  her  of  my  position  and  implored  her  to 
intercede  for  me  with  the  Duke,  her  son.  She  always 
promised  me,  and  never  did  so,  yet  she  told  every  one 
who  spoke  of  me  that  she  was  well  inclined  towards 
me.     On  the  other  hand  Madame,  who  actually  disliked 

a  Prussian  nobleman  named  S ,  pleaded  his  cause 

vigorously  with  M.  le  Due,  her  son,  in  order  that  he 
might  do  something  for  him.  When  M.  le  Due  had  gone 
out  she  called  to  me,  saying  :     *  You  heard  the  interest 

I  took  in  S ,  yet  I  assure  you  that  he  does  not  deserve 

it.'    She  then  said  the  most  astonishing  things  against 


.r,r,,     'hr-.n 


LOUIS    XV. 

From  the  Collection  of  A.  JI.  Broadley. 


160] 


THE  VAGRANT  161 

S .     I  took  the  liberty  of  defending  him,  and  of 

assuring  Her  Royal  Highness  that  she  had  been  given 
false  reports  about  him. 

"  '  What !  '  said  Madame,  '  dare  you  deny  that  he 
had  his  wrist  cut  off  for  having  forged  the  signature 
of  the  King  of  Denmark  ?  * 

'*  As  I  knew  the  story  of  S at  the  Court  of  Den- 
mark, and  that  there  was  no  question  of  anything  of 
that  kind,  and  that,  moreover,  I  knew  that  he  had  lost 
his  arm  from  a  fall  he  had  had,  I  represented  to  Madame 

that  they  thought  it  sufficient  to  cut  off  S 's  wrist 

for  the  crime  she  suspected  him  of,  yet  he  had  lost  his 
arm  at  the  shoulder. 

"  '  Ah  !  '  said  the  Princess  to  me,  '  that  is  because  it 
was  cut  off  twice  !  ' 

" '  But,  Madame,"  I  replied  at  once,  '  Your  Royal 
Highness  would  not  patronize  a  man  capable  of  such  a 
deceit  ?  ' 

"  '  I  have  reasons  for  that,"  she  replied,  and  I  dared 
not  push  my  curiosity  any  further.     But,  in  the  end,  M. 

de  S ,  extremely  disliked,  obtained  what  he  wanted, 

whilst,  as  for  me,  to  whom  they  were  all  well  inclined, 
it  was  impossible  for  me  to  get  a  definite  refusal,  which, 
at  least,  would  have  made  me  give  up  all  hopes,  and 
turn  my  attention  elsewhere." 

The  Duchesse  de  Berri  was  now  also  in  villeggiatura. 
"The  model  of  every  vice,  barring  avarice,"  as  the  Due 
de  St.  Simon,  her  father's  great  friend,  writes  of  her, 
she  had  but  changed  the  scene  of  her  shameless  doings 
from  the  Luxembourg  palace  to  a  chateau  at  Meudon. 
Here  she  revelled  with  her  lover,  squandering  an  income 
of  seven  hundred  thousand  livres,  kept  eight  hundred 
servants,  and  gave  entertainments  at  which  thirty-one 
soups  were  served,  and  one  hundred  and  twenty  side- 
dishes.  "  She  is  such  a  glutton,"  writes  her  grandmother. 
*'  Every  night  she  sits  down  to  table  at  nine  and  eats 
till  three  in  the  morning.  .  .  .  She  is  sick  because  she 
has  eaten  enormously,  and  drunk  too  much  brandy." 

I— II 


162  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

She  rarely  went  to  bed  sober,  and  gambling  was  her 
great  amusement.  At  this  time  she  was  but  little  over 
twenty  ! 

Her  father  the  Regent  refused  her  nothing,  and  "  with 
her  patronage  one  was  certain  to  succeed/' 

The  Duchess  was  kind  and  generous,  willing  to  ask 
favours,  and  Pollnitz  neglected  no  opportunity  of  paying 
his  respects.  The  atmosphere  at  Meudon  was  more 
congenial  to  him  than  that  of  S.  Cloud,  with  its  elderly 
mistress,  whose  righteous  soul  was  vexed  every  day. 
**  I  am  more  troubled  every  day  by  all  I  see  and  hear 
round  me.  I  wonder  that  the  fate  of  Sodom  and  Gor- 
niorrah  does  not  descend  from  Heaven  upon  France." 

The  scandal  of  the  liaison  between  the  Duchess  and 
Riom  was  at  its  height.  Pollnitz  had  known  him  when, 
a  plain,  stout  young  man — "  toad's-head,"  Madame 
called  him — he  was  but  then  a  lieutenant  in  the  King's 
regiment,  in  rather  poor  circumstances.  Through  his 
sister,  the  lady-in-waiting,  Riom  had  been  introduced 
to  the  Duchess  and  appointed  captain  of  her  guards. 
Gradually  he  insinuated  himself  into  the  gay  young 
widow's  graces,  but  without  giving  himself  airs.  Pollnitz 
always  found  him  as  kind  and  polite  as  ever  to  old 
friends,  and  willing  to  help  them,  being  now  extremely 
wealthy  and  magnificent.  The  Duchess  had  given  him 
the  command  of  several  regiments,  of  which  he  sold 
the  commissions  at  a  good  profit. 

Nothing  throws  more  light  upon  the  tone  and  cus- 
toms of  society  under  the  Regency  than  Polhiitz's 
dissertation,  written  many  years  later,  upon  the 
lackeys  of  Paris  at  that  time. 

"  They  form,"  he  whites,  "  such  a  large  body  that 
many  kings  have  not  such  a  numerous  army.  More- 
over, these  people  have  such  extraordinary  luck,  and 
often  rise  so  rapidly  from  valets  to  masters,  and  even 
nobles,  that  really  they  should  not  be  confused  with 
the  mass  of  valets  in  Europe.  Those  among  them  who 
are  clever  enough  to  pass  as  dandies,  as  many  do  (among 


THE  VAGRANT  163 

the  liveried  folk  of  Paris  are  some  of  the  best  figures  and 
handsomest  faces),  those,  I  say,  who  are  in  some  young 
lord's  service,  are  generally  the  equals  and  the  com- 
panions of  their  masters.  There  are  others  who  are 
men  a  bonne  fortune,  and,  if  scandal  may  be  believed, 
and  even,  perhaps,  appearances,  there  are  many  high- 
born ladies  who  do  not  always  treat  them  as  lackeys 
or  servants.  It  is  true  that,  for  the  most  part,  they 
keep  them  in  livery,  and,  in  order  to  have  them  near 
their  persons,  make  valets  de  cliamhre  of  them.  Nothing 
is  too  fine  for  these  favourites  of  Venus  ;  they  dress  up 
Hke  princes,  and,  to  see  one  of  these  lucky  lackeys, 
you  would  take  him  for  a  distinguished  man.  It  is 
true  that  there  are  some  who  ape  gentlemen  to  the  life, 
and  often  have  better  manners  than  their  masters.  An 
appearance  of  importance,  a  look  of  a  lord,  is  born  with 
a  Frenchman.  Others  enjoy  the  favour  of  their  young 
masters  in  such  an  unusual  fashion  that  one  does  not 
know  what  to  think,  and  often  these  noblemen,  for- 
getting what  they  owe  to  themselves  and  their  birth, 
make  up  supper-parties  with  their  people,  at  which  it 
seems  to  me  that  the  pleasure  of  conversation  can  have 
no  part.  But  such  is  the  spirit  of  debauchery  which 
has  taken  possession  of  the  greater  part  of  the  youth  of 
the  Court. 

**  It  is  not  that  the  excess  of  dissipation  is  to  the 
taste  of  the  nation.  On  the  contrary,  a  Frenchman  is 
born  moral,  and  he  dies  moral,  lucky  if  he  can  escape 
with  four  or  five  years  of  a  hot  youth,  and  overcome 
the  tumult  of  passions  which  his  great  vivacity  kindles 
in  his  heart,  and  makes  him  do  things  at  twenty 
which  he  hates  and  abhors  at  thirty.  I  maintain 
that  even  the  greater  part  of  Frenchmen  are  not 
vicious  from  inclination.  The  nobleman  is  infinitely 
more  so  than  the  bulk  of  the  nation ;  I  do  not  know 
what  it  is  seduces  him — bad  company,  bad  advice ;  he 
thinks  it  fine  to  be  dissolute,  and  many  are  more  so  in 
word  than  in  deed. 

"  It  does  not  seem  to  me  that  it  is  the  same  with 


164  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

the  women  (I  speak  of  those  who  do  not  strictly  adhere 
to  virtuous  principles).  They  always  maintain  a  very 
correct  exterior,  which  deceives  those  who  do  not  know 
them.  Their  talk  is  not  licentious,  and  if  they  do  wrong 
it  is  only  in  tete-d-tete.  It  is  true  that  little  justice  is 
done  to  French  ladies  among  us.  Many  of  our  young 
men  who  return  from  Paris  wishing  to  pose  as  dandies, 
relate  such  unfavourable  stories  that  most  Germans, 
and  especially  our  ladies,  think  just  the  opposite  of  what 
they  ought  to  think.  Virtue  and  modesty  are  found 
among  the  fair  sex  here,  as  elsewhere,  and  those  dandies 
who  say  the  opposite  often  do  not  know  a  lady  of  quality 
by  name,  and  have  never  entered  an  anteroom.  Certainly 
there  are  women  of  quality  who  have  lifted  their  masks, 
but  their  number  is  so  small  that  the  fair  sex  should 
not  be  held  contaminated  by  their  bad  behaviour.  I 
wager  that  there  are  ladies  here,  beautiful,  young,  and 
made  to  charm,  whom  scandal  respects.  It  seems  to 
me  that  one  can  ask  for  no  more.  It  is  the  same  with 
young  men ;  the  greater  number  are  very  dissipated,  but 
there  are  some  who  have  kept  to  the  paths  of  virtue.  A 
La  Trimouille,  Luxembourg,  BoufEers,  and  many  others, 
show  an  example  to  our  young  men,  who  would  perhaps 
be  as  worthless  as  the  French  youths  if  they  went  into 
society  so  young,  and  found  themselves  in  the  centre 
of  pleasures  and  amusements." 

Two  new  comets  appeared  in  the  Paris  firmament 
about  this  time,  each  to  run  a  short  but  brilliant  career, 
and  to  end  in  tragedy  and  darkness.  From  the  provinces 
came  the  beautiful,  spirituelle  Adrienne  Lecouvreur, 
to  shed  a  soft  radiance  which  has  never  been  surpassed 
over  the  Parisian  stage.  The  other  was  the  hard-headed 
Scotsman  of  figures,  appearing  at  the  critical  moment 
when  the  lavish  extravagance  of  the  reign  of  the  Grand 
Monarque  seemed  about  to  bear  fruit  in  national  bank- 
ruptcy. The  Regent  gave  him  permission  to  establish 
in  Paris  the  first  bank,  similar  to  those  at  London  and 
Amsterdam,  and  Law  shortly  afterwards  obtained  large 


THE  VAGRANT  165 

grants  of  land  in  the  newly  discovered  Louisiana,  and 
floated  the  Mississippi  and  the  East  India  Companies. 

Meanwhile,  the  little  King,  the  hope  of  France,  had 
been  taken  out  of  the  hands  of  women  and  placed  in 
charge  of  the  old  Marshal  Villeroi,  "  who  taught  him 
not  only  to  walk,  but  to  think  as  a  King/^ 

*'  I  recall,"  writes  Pollnitz,  "  an  incident  which 
showed  that  he  was  quite  convinced  that  he  was  the 
only  master  in  his  kingdom,  and  also  that  there  was  no 
one  superior  to  himself.  Madame  had  come  to  the 
Tuileries  to  pay  her  respects,  but  only  made  a  short 
visit,  as  she  was  going  to  hear  mass.  As  she  withdrew 
she  said  to  the  King  that  she  was  going  to  see  a  greater 
Lord  than  himself.  The  little  eight-year-old  monarch 
seemed  surprised,  but,  after  reflecting  for  a  moment, 
he  replied  to  Madame  :  '  Doubtless,  Madame,  you  are 
going  to  pray  to  God.'  On  another  occasion,  when 
the  Comedie  Fran9aise  played  the  tragedy  of  Athalie 
before  His  Majesty,  it  was  related  that  the  Prince  could 
hardly  endure  to  see  young  Joas  sitting  on  the  throne ; 
he  fancied  it  was  a  second  King.  He  would  not  even 
applaud  the  child  who  acted  the  part  of  Joas  very  well 
indeed.  These  incidents  showed  that  he  had  been 
inspired  by  feelings  suitable  to  his  dignity,  and  perhaps 
he  will  be  equal  to  his  august  great-grandfather." 


CHAPTER   X 

Poor  PoUnitz's  private  affairs  showed  no  change  for  the 
better.  In  spite  of  his  solicitations,  and  the  Regent's 
fair  promises,  he  was  no  further  advanced  than  when 
he  came  to  France,  and  had  much  less  money. 

"  However,  the  ardent  wish  that  I  had  to  enter  the 
French  Army  prevented  me  from  being  rebuffed,  and, 
though  there  was  little  appearance  of  any  success,  I 
began  again  with  my  petitions.  My  sojourn  in  France 
was  extremely  ruinous  to  me,  and  those  who  knew  me 
intimately  could  not  understand  how  I  managed  to 
maintain  myself.'' 

Cousin  Charlotte  Henrietta  soon  learnt  that  her  young 
relative  had  failed  to  obtain  any  appointment  in  France, 
but  that  he  was  still  determined  to  live  there.  She 
grudged  all  the  outlay  she  knew  that  he  must  be  making, 
and,  as  his  property  was  all  entailed  on  her,  "  she  fancied 
that  all  the  money  that  I  was  spending  in  France  was 
as  good  as  stolen  from  her." 

So  she  determined  to  have  PoUnitz  removed  from 
Paris,  knowing  that  he  could  live  more  inexpensively 
anywhere  else.  She  therefore  begged  the  Princess  of 
Wales,  who  was  one  of  Madame's  numerous  corre- 
spondents— 

"  To  write  to  Her  Royal  Highness  and  to  beg  her  not 
to  protect  me  any  longer,  as  I  did  not  deserve  her  kind- 
ness. The  letter,  a  strong  one,  for  my  cousin  was  well 
served,  was  written  and  forwarded  to  Madame,  who, 
however,  told  me  of  its  contents,  and  assured  me  that 

166 


THE  VAGRANT  167 

it  would  not  affect  her  opinion  of  me,  but  that  she  would 
always  continue  to  be  kind  to  me/' 

Thanking  the  Princess  very  humbly,  Pollnitz  with- 
drew, very  angry  with  his  cousin.  In  his  first  outburst 
against  her,  he  wrote  her  a  letter  in  which  he  did  not 
spare  her.  Cousin  Charlotte  Henrietta,  "  who  had  really 
a  very  pretty  wit,  replied  in  the  same  strain."  Pollnitz 
rejoined,  and  she  answered  him,  and  there  followed  a 
lively  correspondence  "  in  which  we  each  said  very 
pretty  things." 

"  To  crown  my  happiness,  I  was  now  attacked  by 
jaundice.  This  illness  brought  me  to  the  brink  of  the 
grave." 

Simultaneously  with  the  growth  of  infidelity  in  the 
early  eighteenth  century,  and  with  the  widespread  moral 
depravity,  raged  fierce  religious  feuds  between  various 
sects.  In  Protestant  Germany  we  have  seen  how  the 
Lutherans  and  Calvinists  hated  each  other ;  France 
was  rent  between  the  Jansenists  and  the  Jesuits.  It 
was  indeed  a  war  only  of  the  pen,  a  shock  of  scholastic 
lances.  But  the  influence  of  Jansenism,  which  was 
great  among  the  upper  classes,  was  also  a  healthy  one, 
for  they  preached  and  practised  austerity  and  simplicity 
of  life,  and  endeavoured  to  bring  about  a  much-needed 
reform  of  morals. 

When  Pollnitz  lay  upon  a  bed  of  sickness  his  friends 
did  not  neglect  him,  especially  the  celebrated  Jansenist, 
the  Abbe  d'Asfeld.  Pollnitz  was  too  quick  and  keen 
in  absorbing  new  ideas  to  escape  the  Jansenist  influence. 
The  Abbe  seized  the  opportunity  of  rescuing  this  brand 
from  the  burning.  "  The  devil  was  sick,  the  devil  a 
monk  would  be."  The  impressionable  young  man  lis- 
tened to  his  saintly  adviser.  D'Asfeld  not  only  brought 
him  back  to  religion,  but  also  converted  him  to  the 
Roman  Catholic  communion. 


168  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

"  My  friends  did  not  neglect  me,  and,  among  others, 
the  Abbe  d'Asfeld  was  the  one  to  whom  I  am  most 
indebted.  He  begged  me  to  consider  my  situation 
seriously,  and,  as  he  knew  that  I  was  not  a  Catholic,  and 
that  the  prejudices  in  which  I  had  been  brought  up 
inclined  me  very  much  to  the  contrary  side,  he  implored 
me  to  allow  him  to  talk  to  me  about  religion  for  an 
hour  a  day.  I  gladly  assented.  Every  one  knows  with 
what  force  and  unction  he  speaks.  He  continued  these 
visits  during  all  my  illness,  which  gradually  passed 
away.  I  was  so  much  impressed  with  what  he  told  me 
that  I  promised  him  that  I  would  be  instructed  directly 
I  had  recovered.  I  kept  my  word  as  soon  as  I  was  able 
to  go  out.  He  introduced  me  to  Pere  Denys,  a  Bare- 
footed Carmelite.  A  few  discussions  with  the  good 
Father  completed  what  the  Abbe  had  begun,  so  that, 
in  a  short  time,  I  made  my  public  confession  of  faith 
before  Pere  Denys  in  the  church  of  his  convent,  in  the 
presence  of  a  great  number  of  distinguished  people. 
M.  le  Marquis  d'Asfeld,  and  the  Abbe,  his  brother,  were 
my  witnesses,  and  signed  after  me  my  confession  of 
faith.  When  the  ceremony  was  over  I  was  attacked 
on  every  side  by  the  embraces  of  a  quantity  of  people, 
of  whom  three  quarters  were  unknown  to  me,  but  who, 
out  of  their  zeal  for  religion,  wished  to  demonstrate  to 
me  the  joy  my  reception  into  the  bosom  of  the  Church 
gave  them.  I  received  the  Communion  the  same  week. 
All  Saints'  Day.  Finally,  I  went  to  visit  the  Cardinal 
de  Noailles,  who  gave  me  a  very  fine  address,  exhorting 
me  to  be  firm  in  the  religion  I  had  embraced.'' 

News  of  Pollnitz's  conversion  soon  spread  to  Germany. 
Kind  cousin  Charlotte  did  not  fail  to  raise  an  outcry 
against  this  step — 

"  As  vehemently  as  Luther  or  Calvin  would  have  done. 
The  same  Princess,  who  had  already  recommended  me 
to  Madame  "  (the  Duchess  of  Hanover,  sister-in-law  of 
Electress  Sophia  ?),  "  wrote  to  tell  her  that  she  need  not 


THE  VAGRANT  169 

be  surprised  at  my  changing  my  religion,  as  I  had 
already  done  so  two  or  three  times  before  !  '' 

On  Madame,  however,  this  last  hint  made  no  more 
impression  than  the  first ;  but,  in  order  not  to  hear 
any  more  about  his  enemies,  Pollnitz  ceased  to  frequent 
the  Palais  Royal,  whither  Madame  had  returned  for 
the  winter.  His  action  entirely  disposed  of  the  asser- 
tion that  he  had  sold  his  faith  for  the  sake  of  worldly 
advantage. 

The  winter  of  1717  was  an  unpleasant  one  for  him. 
Paris,  "  without  money,  is  duller  than  the  most  remote 
desert.'"  He  was  soon  obliged  to  put  down  his  coach, 
and  next  to  sell  part  of  his  wardrobe,  in  order  to  satisfy 
his  most  pressing  creditors.  Yet  he  could  not  escape 
the  disgrace  with  which  he  was  overwhelmed  by  one 
"  hungrier  than  the  rest.'"  In  spite  of  having  promised 
to  wait  a  month,  this  creditor  had  Pollnitz  arrested 
in  the  little  market  of  the  Faubourg  S.  Germain,  and 
removed  to  the  Abbaye  prison. 

This  might  have  turned  out  ill  for  Pollnitz  had  not 
the  Councillor  of  Parliament,  Novion,  to  whom  he  at 
once  sent  news  of  his  incarceration,  come  to  his  aid. 
Novion  himself  arrived  immediately  and  offered  to  be 
security  for  the  debt.  But  the  creditor,  who  wanted 
only  money  down,  refused  bail.  Whereupon  Novion, 
much  annoyed  by  the  refusal,  wrote  a  line  to  his  relative, 
the  First  President,  asking  that  Pollnitz  might  be  set 
at  liberty.  This  was  at  once  ordered,  without  the  money 
being  paid.  Novion,  moreover,  obtained  an  injunction 
of  arrest,  so  that  Pollnitz's  creditors  gave  him  no  more 
trouble.     Such  was  justice  in  Paris  under  Louis  XV  ! 

But  no  sooner  was  our  Baron  out  of  one  trouble  than 
he  landed  himself  in  another,  "  less  annoying,  indeed, 
but  very  funny.''  Two  years  previously  he  had  be- 
come— 

*'  Acquainted  in  the  salon  of  the  wife  of  the  President 

de  P with  a  rich,  ugly,  avaricious,  mad  old  widow, 

who,  to  complete  her  attractions,  loved  law-suits  to 


170  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

distraction.  These  great  qualities  did  not  deter  a 
number  of  pleasant  men  from  trying  to  woo  her,  aspiring 
to  a  marriage  which  seemed  to  them  advantageous.  .  .  . 
The  lady  was  forty  years  older  than  I  was  ;  patches, 
rouge,  and  white,  daily  renewed  her  attractions.  One 
had  to  be  twenty-two,  like  me,  not  to  be  scared  by  her 
charms.  The  eight  thousand  livres'  income  I  had  in 
view  induced  me,  however,  to  take  for  natural  every- 
thing that  was  artificial,  and  I  do  not  know  that  I 
would  not  have  sworn  that  my  charmer  was  fifteen. 

"  For  two  years  we  were  very  attentive  to  each  other. 
The  widow,  however,  would  not  make  her  choice ;  not 
because  she  did  not  wish  to  get  married,  but  because 
she  insisted  on  such  extraordinary  conditions  that  the 
gallants  retired  at  once.''     Madame  la  Presidente  de 

P ,  who  knew  the  lady,  and  also  of  Pollnitz's  sad 

plight,  advised  him  to  try  his  fate,  and  said  she  would 
help  him.  Her  efforts  and  Pollnitz's  endeavours  to 
please  were  not  in  vain.  The  lady  offered  him  a 
suite  of  rooms  in  her  house,  and  threw  out  hints  that 
he  might  have  hopes. 

The  difficulty  was  Pollnitz's  lack  of  money  ;  for  he 
wished  to  appear  at  the  house  well  turned  out.  "  Happily 
my  hostess,  who  was  one  of  those  schemers  with  whom 
Paris  swarms,  helped  me  out  of  my  dilemma."  She 
saw  what  was  the  matter,  and,  with  the  assistance  of 
an  Italian  valet  whom  he  had  had  for  some  time,  easily 
provided  all  he  wanted  in  order  to  make  a  fine  show. 
Pollnitz  engaged  more  servants,  set  up  fine  liveries,  and 
in  a  few  days  his  equipage  was  as  fine  as  ever,  "  all  on 
credit,  indeed,  but  soon  my  old  woman,  stingy  though 
she  was,  helped  me  out  of  my  difficulty." 

On  the  other  hand,  Pollnitz  was  obliged  to  play  a 
rather  embarrassing  role,  "  pretending  to  be  the  lover  of 
one  of  the  most  disagreeable  women  in  the  universe,  just 

when  I  was  still  in  love  with  Madame  de  E, ,  who 

was,  without  a  doubt,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  persons 
you  could  see," 


THE  VAGRANT  171 

Further,  the  lady,  aping  people  in  society,  pretended 
to  be  jealous.  She  had  Pollnitz  watched  everywhere, 
and  he  could  hardly  leave  her  for  a  moment. 

**  Generally  we  went  out  together,  and  at  eight  in  the 
morning  were  at  the  Palais  de  Justice,  irritating  lawyers 
and  solicitors.  The  good  lady  went  home,  and  began 
her  toilette.  I  was  present  in  an  arm-chair,  where  I  had 
plenty  of  time  to  bore  myself.  It  is  true  that,  for  the 
first  few  days,  I  was  somewhat  amused  by  the  close 
acquaintance  with  the  means  by  which  a  very  unpleas- 
ing  physiognomy  can  be  made  passable.  Everything 
about  my  old  woman  was  artificial,  and  I  do  not  think 
that  more  colours  could  be  used  to  paint  a  portrait 
than  were  necessary  to  patch  up  her  face.*' 

Bored,  and  horribly  disgusted,  only  the  thought  of  the 
predicaments  into  which  his  extravagance  had  led 
him  induced  Pollnitz  to  reflect  that  it  was  to  his  interest 
not  to  break  ofi  playing  the  lover's  part.  At  last, 
when  he  was  nearly  dead  of  boredom,  she  began  to 
speak  of  marriage,  and  he  consented. 

"  The  lady  had  two  sons,  who  might  have  been 
my  fathers.  Messieurs,  my  step-sons,  were  warned,  I 
do  not  know  by  whom,  of  the  understanding  between 
me  and  their  mother.  They  came  and  flung  themselves 
at  her  feet,  imploring  her  not  to  do  them  and  their 
children  (they  were  married)  this  injury  by  marrying  me. 
My  fiancee  was  shaken,  and  I  appeared  at  the  moment 
that  she  was  about  to  promise  her  sons  what  they  asked. 
My  presence  reassured  her,  and  I  induced  her  to  triumph 
over  her  weakness. 

"  But  my  sons  employed  means  which  was  far  from 
useless.  Their  mother  was  a  coquette,  but  she  was  also 
devout.  She  gave  to  God  the  time  that  she  was  not 
with  me,  or  at  her  toilette.  Her  sons  handed  her  over 
to  a  priest  of  S.  Sulpice.  The  holy  man  seized  his 
opportunity  when  I  was  not  in  the  house.  I  had  not 
foreseen  the  step,  or  the  porter — all  the  servants  were 


172  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

in  my  pay — would  certainly  not  have  allowed  him  in. 
So  well  did  he  acquit  himself  of  his  mission  that  he 
brought  about  the  decision  that  the  signature  of  the 
marriage  contract,  which  was  to  take  place  next  day, 
should  be  postponed  for  three  months.  I  learnt  this 
news  without  much  grief,  for  I  confess  that  my  conceit 
was  such  that  I  did  not  think  the  lady  could  escape  me. 
From  the  portrait  I  have  drawn  you  of  my  charmer, 
you  can  well  imagine  that  I  was  not  much  in  love  with 
her.  The  scruples  which  the  priest  of  S.  Sulpice  had 
aroused  did  not  change  her  attitude  towards  me.  We 
were  still  good  friends,  but  yet  I  dared  not  speak  of 
anything  which  would  settle  matters  for  me.  She  made 
me  handsome  presents,  and  I  disposed  of  them  as  fast 
as  I  received  them.  To  suggest  the  drawing  up  of  a 
will  to  a  sweetheart  of  sixty-two  would  have  been  an 
odd  love-making,  and  the  way  to  lose  all. 

"  But  ill-luck  befell  me  just  when  I  least  expected 
it.  One  morning  I  entered  my  charmer's  chamber  to 
find  her  at  her  toilette.  She  complained  of  a  violent 
headache,  and  told  me  that  she  was  very  unwell ;  that 
she  had  asked  people  to  dine,  but  was  not  fit  to  receive 
them.  She  begged  me  to  do  the  honours  of  the  house. 
I  advised  her  to  tell  those  she  had  invited  that  she  was 
ill,  and  to  beg  them  to  put  the  party  off  till  another  day. 
She  agreed.  I  went  out  for  a  turn,  promising  to  come 
back  and  dine  with  her. 

"  When  I  returned  I  found  her  more  made  up  than 
usual.  She  told  me  that  her  headache  had  quite  gone 
after  that  she  had  drunk  some  coffee,  and  that  she  had 
dressed  to  please  me.  We  dmed  together ;  she  ate  very 
little,  and  soon  began  to  complain  again.  I  had  her 
put  to  bed,  and,  drawing  a  chair  by  her  bed-side,  took 
up  a  book  to  read  her  to  sleep.  All  at  once  I  felt  my 
hand  seized.  I  turned  towards  the  bed,  and  saw  my 
fiancee  expire,  clasping  my  hand.  I  called  for  help ; 
people  came ;  surgeons,  doctors  came.  They  bled  her, 
but  all  was  in  vain.  *  Not  twice  does  one  stand  on 
the  verge  of  death.* 


THE  VAGRANT  173 

*'  This  tragedy  so  shocked  me  that  I  did  not  think 
of  putting  my  effects  in  safety.  I  went  to  my  room, 
and,  hardly  had  I  been  there  a  few  moments,  when 
they  came  and  told  me  that  one  of  the  deceased's  sons 
was  there  with  a  police-officer,  putting  seals  on  every- 
thing. I  did  not  object,  and,  in  truth,  I  had  no  right 
to  do  so.  But  my  urbanity  only  made  the  son  most 
masterful.  He  even  came  into  my  room  to  seal  the 
things  which  belonged  to  me.  I  told  him  that,  if  he  did 
not  leave,  I  would  have  him  put  out  by  my  people  and 
those  of  the  deceased,  who  were  very  fond  of  me. 

"  While  this  was  going  on,  M.  de  Novion,  the  Par- 
liamentary Councillor,  who  was  a  great  friend  of  mine, 
came  to  see  me ;  he  advised  me  to  turn  out  as  soon  as 
possible,  and  to  have  everything  that  belonged  to  me 
removed  at  once.  He  offered  me  his  house  to  put  my 
furniture  and  my  baggage  in.  I  accepted  his  offer,  and 
everything  was  carried  away  in  a  few  hours.  The  sons 
wished  to  go  to  law  with  me  ;  but,  as  they  had  no  proof 
of  what  I  was  indebted  to  their  mother,  they  did  not 
dare  to  begin  to  annoy  me.  Had  I  been  older  and  wiser, 
I  should  have  regretted  for  a  long  time  the  loss  I  had 
experienced.  For,  besides  a  good  friend — a  rare  and 
precious  thing — I  lost  the  prospect  of  a  brilliant  future.'" 

There  was  nothing  for  it  now  but  for  Pollnitz  to  go 
to  Berlin  and  to  try  and  arrange  his  affairs  by  selling 
his  estates,  if  his  cousin  allowed  him.  He  delayed  his 
departure  a  while  to  be  in  Paris  during  the  visit  of  the 
Czar,  which  made  a  great  stir,  though  Peter  declined 
to  receive  a  public  entry.  He  only  reached  the  Louvre, 
chronicles  Pollnitz,  at  ten  at  night,  not  too  pleased  not 
to  be  welcomed  by  the  King,  and  to  be  told  that  the 
latter  was  too  young  to  sit  up  so  late.  He  was  very 
cross  all  the  evening,  declined  any  supper,  and  only  took 
a  glass  of  beer.  He  refused  to  stay  at  the  Louvre,  say- 
ing that  the  furniture  of  his  rooms  was  too  magnificent, 
and  that  his  people,  who  were  slovenly,  might  spoil  it. 
At  one  in  the  morning  he  turned  out  of  it.     The  Marshal 


174  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

de  Tesse,  who  had  been  attached  to  him  during  his  stay, 
had  luckily  furnished  the  Hotel  de  Lesdiguieres ;  but 
even  that  was  too  sumptuous,  and  the  Czar  would  not 
sleep  in  the  fine  bed  he  had  prepared,  but  had  a  camp- 
bed  put  up  in  a  dressing-room. 

Next  day  he  received  a  visit  from  the  Regent,  and 
then  the  King  came  in  state  to  see  him.  The  Czar 
received  little  Louis  as  he  descended  from  his  coach,  and 
took  him  in  his  arms,  with  an  ecstasy  of  affection  which 
seemed  to  surprise  the  child  somewhat.  The  latter 
made  a  speech  of  welcome,  and  the  two  passed,  hand  in 
hand,  into  the  audience-chamber.  The  visit  only  lasted 
a  very  short  time.  When  the  King  took  his  leave  the 
Czar,  at  the  coach-door,  lifted  him  up  in  his  arms, 
higher  than  himself,  saying  that  he  wished  for  him 
that  his  grandeur  and  power  might  surpass  that  of  the 
King  Louis  XIV. 

Next  day  the  Czar  returned  the  visit,  and  was  very 
much  pleased  with  the  state  and  ceremonial  of  his 
reception.  Later  he  paid  visits  to  the  Regent  and  to 
Madame.  The  latter  talked  to  him  for  two  hours  in 
her  favourite  German,  and  he  replied  to  her  in  Dutch. 

When  he  had  taken  his  leave,  he  remarked  to  M.  de  S 

that  the  old  lady  was  extraordinarily  inquisitive,  and 
had  asked  him  too  many  questions ;  but  that,  in  the  end, 
he  had  not  told  her  anything  he  did  not  wish  her  to 
know. 

The  Czar  saw  the  sights  of  Paris  with  the  insatiable 
curiosity  and  the  indefatigablenessof  a  modern  American, 
starting  at  dawn  and  wearing  out  many  of  poor  M.  de 
Tesse's  coach-horses,  which  he  used  in  order  to  pass 
unnoticed.  The  Court  spared  no  pains  to  entertain  him. 
A  grand  review  was  held  of  all  the  King's  regiments,  the 
French  and  Swiss  Guards,  in  the  avenue  de  Roule,  and 
which  overflowed  into  the  Champs  l^lysees.  But  the 
Czar  only  rode  quickly  down  the  line,  hardly  noticed 
the  troops,  and  then,  without  any  salute  to  the  Regent, 
set  spurs  to  his  horse  and  galloped  back  to  Paris  ;  thence 
at  once  to  S.  Ouen,  where  a  fete,  got  up  by  the  Due 


THE  VAGRANT  175 

de  Tr ernes,  Governor  of  Paris,  appeared  to  amuse  him 
more  than  the  review,  though  he  only  noticed  one  lady, 
Madame  de  Bethune,  the  Duke's  daughter.  The 
Regent  had  prepared  a  fete  at  S.  Cloud,  but  the  Czar 
had  an  attack  of  illness,  and  could  not  be  present.  Ver- 
sailles seemed  to  please  him  ;  he  had  a  plan  of  it  drawn 
out,  and  enlisted  a  number  of  workmen  to  construct  a 
similar  palace  in  Russia.  The  Regent  allowed  them 
to  leave,  but  most  of  them  found  the  promises  the  Czar 
had  made  them  were  not  performed,  and  were  glad  to 
get  back  to  France. 

"  This  Prince  was  not  liberal,''  remarks  Pollnitz,  "  and 
his  presents,  when  he  made  any,  were  only  valuable 
because  given  by  such  a  great  monarch.  I  saw  a  poor 
soldier  at  the  Invalides  present  him  with  a  plan  of  the 
Hotel.  The  Prince  seemed  pleased  with  the  beautiful 
work,  which  had  taken  ten  years  to  complete,  yet  the 
veteran  received  but  a  small  reward.  But  the  King  of 
France  showed  how  different  the  French  character  is 
to  that  of  the  Russian  by  giving  him  handsome  presents." 

The  Czar,  however,  was  pleased  with  his  reception 
in  France,  where  his  stay  had  attracted  a  great  concourse 
of  visitors ;  never  had  Paris  seemed  so  full.  New 
amusements  were  much  in  demand. 

"  I  was  given  a  suggestion  which  would  have  yielded 
me  a  large  sum  could  I  have  carried  it  out ;  it  was  the 
offer  of  a  substantial  commission  if  I  could  obtain  the 
privilege  of  setting  up  public  balls  and  gambling-tables 
in  the  Champs  Elysees,  where  booths  could  have  been 
erected.  I  spoke  to  the  Regent  about  it,  who,  at  first, 
as  usual,  promised  fair.  But  d'Argenson,  then  only 
the  Head  of  the  Police,  induced  him  to  change  his  mind 
by  telling  him  that  the  balls  would  infallibly  lead  to 
great  licentiousness.  The  objection  was  specious,  and 
bore  some  verisimilitude ;  but,  in  fact,  such  a  scheme 
would  not  have  increased  disorder,  especially  in  a  spot 


176  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEB 

where  it  had  long  been  the  fashion  to  walk  about  at 
night,  so  much  so  that  there  were  often  more  coaches 
in  the  courtyards  after  midnight  than  during  the  day. 
Moreover,  it  would  have  been  possible  to  prevent  dis- 
order which  was  foreseen.  But  d'Argenson  liked  neither 
novelties  nor  to  please  any  one." 

Had  Pollnitz's  little  scheme,  which  does  him  but  little 
honour,  succeeded,  it  would  have  enabled  him  to  spend 
a  little  longer  time  pleasantly  m  Paris.  When  it  failed 
his  one  idea  was  to  return  to  Berlin.  As  he  was  prepar- 
ing to  start,  he  saw  Count  Rothenburg,  who  had  come 
from  Berlin,  and  was  returning  shortly,  entrusted  with 
French  business.  He  encouraged  Pollnitz  to  return 
home,  assuring  him  that  nothing  would  be  easier  than 
to  sell  his  estates  now.  Frederic  William,  dealing  with 
a  high  hand  with  his  nobles,  had  just  wrested  from  them 
the  immemorial  right  of  exemption  from  taxation.  On 
the  other  hand,  he  had  removed  the  entails  and  allowed 
every  one  to  dispose  of  their  property  as  they  Hsted. 
Further,  Rothenburg  offered  to  take  Pollnitz  back  with 
him,  and  to  lend  him  money. 

But  the  advance  was  made  in  Law's  new  paper 
currency,  the  Billets  d'Etat.  "Taking  advantage  of  my 
necessities,  he  forced  me  into  the  most  ruinous  bargain 
I  ever  struck."  Pollnitz  discounted  his  notes,  and, 
with  what  was  left  of  the  money,  set  out  for  Strasburg, 
where  he  was  to  join  Rothenburg,  who  had  gone  round 
by  Burgundy  to  visit  some  estates  he  had  there. 

For  nearly  a  month  Pollnitz  dawdled  at  Strasburg, 
awaiting  Rothenburg.  Nothing  but  lack  of  money 
induced  him  to  do  so.  At  last  Rothenburg  arrived, 
but  only  to  announce  that  he  could  not  possibly  take 
Pollnitz  with  him  to  Berlin,  because  there  was  no  room 
in  his  coach.  "It  is  true  that  his  equipage  was  full, 
but  there  were  some  inside  who  should  have  been  out- 
side," says  the  Baron. 


FREDEKIC,    FIRST    KING    OF    TRUSSIA. 


176] 


CHAPTER   XI 

While  waiting  for  money  to  be  sent  him  from  Berlin, 
Pollnitz  found  little  to  see  and  do  at  Strasburg.  This 
city,  since  it  had  passed  at  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht 
from  the  Emperor  to  France,  was  in  the  hands  of  the 
Romanists,  and  Lutherans  were  excluded  from  all 
public  employment.  There  was  a  large  French  garrison, 
and  Marshal  Dubourg  was  the  Governor  ;  he  had  been 
tutor  to  Madame's  husband,  the  Due  d'Orleans,  and 
thus  Pollnitz  had  an  introduction  to  him,  and  attended 
his  receptions,  such  as  they  were.  The  Governor  lived 
in  more  seclusion  than  is  usual  with  persons  in  high 
official  position.  He  received  the  officers  of  the  garrison 
in  the  morning,  and  made  them  sit  round  in  a  circle. 
"  A  solemn  silence  reigned,  which  would  have  dispelled 
the  prejudice  of  foreigners  that  French  people  chatter 
too  much.''  After  about  half  an  hour  every  one  went 
off  to  dine  where  he  liked,  which,  probably,  in  the 
present  state  of  our  Baron's  finances,  was  not  exactly 
to  his  taste.  But  the  Marshal  only  entertained  on  the 
rare  occasions  when  some  distinguished  visitors  came 
from  the  French  Court,  or  when  the  Archbishop,  Cardinal 
de  Rohan,  was  in  residence.  "  Otherwise,"  writes 
Pollnitz,  "  a  stay  at  Strasburg  is  very  dull,  especially 
for  those,"  he  adds,  with  a  moral  unctuousness  which 
we  may  surmise  proceeded  rather  from  the  depletion 
of  his  purse  than  from  any  natural  conviction,  "  not 
addicted  to  the  usual  dissipations  of  youth  ;  the  latter 
always  find  wherewith  to  amuse  themselves,  and, 
indeed,  I  saw  for  myself  that  the  young  men  of  Stras- 
burg are  very  dissolute,  and  the  bourgeoisie  very  easy  to 
become  acquainted  with." 

1—12  177 


178  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

The  nobility  of  Strasburg  were  few  in  number,  and 
poor.  The  canons  of  the  cathedral,  all  princes  or  counts, 
were  not  an  asset  in  society,  as  they  were  only  in  the 
city  during  their  three  months'  compulsory  residence. 
But  the  officers  of  the  garrison  were  pleasant — 

"  Knowing  both  how  to  do  their  duty  and  how  to 
amuse  themselves  at  the  right  time.  ...  A  fine  and 
brilliant  set  of  young  men,  whose  fingers  itch  to  fight. 
Never  have  I  seen  such  fine  infantry  as  the  French  is 
to-day.  The  cavalry  are  fine  men,  but  not  mounted 
like  ours.  You  know  it  is  the  fashion  with  us  to  say  the 
French  are  ruined  and  played  out.  I  do  not  know  if 
this  is  the  case,  but,  to  judge  by  appearances,  it  cannot 
be.  The  troops  have  never  been  better  clothed,  better 
paid,  more  active,  or  finer.  The  officers  are  well 
dressed ;  they  gamble  among  themselves,  live  well. 
It  does  not  appear  to  me  that  this  is  the  life  of  men 
in  a  poor  way.  If  so,  I  should  like  to  be  poor  all  my 
life. 

"  The  garrison  maintains  a  company  of  actors.  The 
captains  and  commandants  pay,  but  the  subalterns  are 
allowed  in  free.  The  town  keeps  up  a  theatre,  one  of 
the  prettiest  in  the  provinces.  The  man  who  likes 
grisettes  can  amuse  himself  here.  The  race  is  a  very 
fine  one ;  one  notices  that  the  prettiest  girls  are 
Lutheran.  It  is  said  that  the  fair  sex  is  very  sympa- 
thetic here  ;  which  makes  me  think  that  it  would  not 
be  the  place  to  lose  one's  heart  in. 

"  Many  of  our  young  Germans  come  here  to  learn 
French  and  fencing.  They  do  not  seem  any  the  better 
for  it.  The  fencing-masters  are  not  superior  to  those 
in  many  German  towns,  and,  as  for  French,  it  is  very 
badly  spoken  here.  The  inhabitants  speak  German, 
and  the  young  men,  delighted  to  talk  their  own  language, 
forget  to  learn  any  other.  Besides,  they  are  always 
together,  and  only  pass  on  their  vices  and  their  visitors. 
Not  knowing  what  to  do  with  themselves,  they  spend 
their  time  in  cafes,  at  billiards,  and  sometimes  in  less 


THE  VAGRANT  179 

reputable  places,  for  Strasburg  is  one  of  the  most  dis- 
sipated towns  in  Europe." 

Money  having  reached  Pollnitz,  he  started  as  quickly 
as  possible  for  Berlin,  passing  through  Heidelberg, 
Darmstadt,  and  Frankfort.  At  Hanau  he  stayed  to 
pay  his  respects  to  the  Count,  whose  wife  was  a  Princess 
of  Brandenburg-Anspach,  sister  to  the  Princess  of 
Wales.    The  Count  was  a  mighty  hunter. 

**  It  is  an  unpardonable  crime  to  kill  a  stag  on  his 
lands.  The  small  game,  rabbits  and  hares,  are  no  less 
highly  preserved  ;  all  these  animals  ravage  the  country- 
side, but  they  afford  amusement  to  the  Count.  The  poor 
peasant  is  reduced  to  paying  taille  and  holdmg  his 
tongue." 

The  Count  of  Hanau,  Count  of  the  Empire,  the  last 
of  his  line,  Pollnitz  found  living  in  his  very  old,  finely 
furnished  palace  in  the  old  quarter  of  the  town,  so  called 
to  distinguish  it  from  the  new  quarter  built  by  the 
Protestant  Walloons,  who  settled  there  when  exiled  by 
the  persecutions  of  Alva.  But  he  often  resided  in  the 
magnificent  chateau  of  Phillipsruhe,  a  mile  or  two  off, 
built  by  his  late  brother.  He  kept  up  a  large  house- 
hold and  suite,  and  Pollnitz  would  fain  have  lingered 
there  some  days.  For  the  Princess  was  an  excellent 
hostess,  everything  so  well  managed,  yet — 

"  One  enjoyed  at  her  Court  all  the  freedom  one  could 
wish  for.  When  I  arrived  I  was  assigned  a  room ;  a 
lackey  was  ordered  to  wait  upon  me.  Every  morning 
an  official  arrived  to  ask  what  one  wanted  for  breakfast 
.  .  .  then  if  one  wished  to  hunt,  one  sent  to  the  Head 
Huntsman  for  a  gamekeeper,  and  to  the  Count's  stables 
for  horses.  H  one  returned  too  late  for  dinner,  it  was 
served  very  nicely  in  one's  room.  In  the  evening, 
after  one  had  retired,  the  butler  took  care  to  provide 
one  with  beer  and  wine.     Visitors'  servants  were  fed 


180  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

with  those  of  the  Count,  whose  own  table  is  of  the  best ; 
usually  eighteen  covers  are  laid,  and  a  second  table 
served  with  equal  profusion.  .  .  .  The  rooms  are 
splendid,  and  magnificently  furnished,  and  the  gardens 
are  in  good  taste  and  beautifully  situated." 

PoUnitz  tore  himself  away  from  this  delightful  Liberty 
Hall,  and  went  to  the  dirty  little  town  of  Fulda,  where 
he  dined  at  the  famous  Benedictine  Abbey  with  the 
Prince-Abbot,  Chancellor  by  right  of  birth  to  the 
Emperor,  and  Primate  of  Abbots.  "I  do  not  think 
that,  on  the  whole,  it  is  necessary  to  have  a  very  sincere 
vocation  to  be  a  monk  at  Fulda.  These  gentlemen 
enjoy  all  that  one  could  wish  for  to  lead  a  very  pleasant 
life.'"  This  Abbot,  an  ambitious  man,  had  added  very 
largely  to  the  Abbey,  and  it  "  was  like  the  palace  of  a 
great  King  rather  than  a  monastery  .  .  .  the  Abbey  and 
the  adjoining  church  of  cut  stone,  some  of  the  finest 
buildings  in  Germany."  The  Abbot  kept  up  a  great 
household  and  several  regiments,  and  a  large  stable, 
all  well  appointed.     Pollnitz — 

"  Would  have  had  good  reason  to  be  satisfied  with 
the  welcome  he  gave  me  had  he  not  made  me  drink  so 
much.  Few  rulers  in  Germany  keep  a  better  table. 
Nothing  is  lacking ;  one  drinks  good  wine,  but  in  such 
a  quantity  that  one  is  soon  not  in  a  condition  to  know 
what  one  is  drinking.  Here,  I  think,  must  be  the  best 
drinkers  in  Europe.  As  I,  on  the  contrary,  am  one  of 
the  worst,  I  decided  that  Fulda  was  not  the  place  for  me 
to  pitch  my  tent.  I  dined  with  the  Prince,  came  back 
drunk  to  mine  inn,  and  slept.  Had  I  stayed  any  longer 
I  might  well  have  left  for  a  longer  journey  than  to 
Berlin.  .  .  ." 

From  Fulda,  "  over  one  of  the  most  disagreeable 
roads  in  all  Germany,  and  in  a  country  not  well  sup- 
plied with  provisions — I  nearly  starved  to  death  in  the 
inns  " — to  Eisenach,  "  situated  at  the  foot  of  horrible 


THE  VAGRANT  181 

mountains."  Pollnitz  had  little  eye  for  grandeur  in 
natural  scenery.  The  Duke  of  Saxe-Eisenach,  of  the 
Weimar  branch,  was  away,  and,  as  there  was  nothing 
to  see  in  the  residenzstadt,  Pollnitz  hurried  on  to  Gotha. 
The  Duke  here,  of  another  of  the  Saxon  families,  was  a 
wise  and  kindly  ruler,  the  father  of  his  people,  but 
reserved  and  inaccessible  to  strangers.  A  learned  man 
and  a  great  reader,  he  was  little  addicted  to  society 
and  entertaining.  Gotha  was  an  un-Versailled  capital, 
a  little  oasis  among  the  pleasure-seeking  Courts  of 
Germany,  and  hardly  congenial  or  accessible  to  Pollnitz, 
who  passed  on  to  Erfiirt  "  over  one  of  the  worst  roads 
I  ever  saw,"  and  thence  to  Leipzig.  The  Michaelmas 
Fair  was  being  held  at  Leipzig,  the  King  of  Poland,  as 
usual,  staying  at  the  Apel's  house,  because  it  was 
nearer  the  fair-ground  than  the  castle.  But  Pollnitz 
was  too  anxious  to  reach  Berlin  to  be  delayed  even  by 
this  attraction,  and  passed  onward. 

On  his  first  arrival  at  Berlin  he  kept  very  quiet,  for 
he  perceived  how  uncongenial  the  changed  Court  would 
be  to  him.  Plowever,  he  could  not  long  remain  hidden  ; 
gratitude  for  so  much  kindness  in  the  past  drove  him  to 
pay  his  respects  to  the  widowed  Margravine  at  Schwedt. 
She  received  him  so  kindly,  and  presently  spoke  so 
favourably  of  him  to  the  King,  that  he  wished  to  see 
him. 

"  By  Grumbkow  he  ordered  me  to  go  and  speak 
with  him  at  Charlottenburg,  and  to  have  myself  an- 
nounced by  one  of  his  valets  de  chambre,  Ast.  I  would 
rather  have  avoided  obeying  this  order,  but  it  was  too 
explicit,  as  His  Majesty  had  even  specified  the  hour 
at  which  I  was  to  wait  upon  him.  So  I  went  to  Char- 
lottenburg on  the  day  appointed  ;  I  sent  for  Ast,  who 
came  to  receive  me,  and  led  me  to  a  gallery,  where  he 
begged  me  to  wait  a  while.  I  had  only  been  there  a 
quarter  of  an  hour  when  the  King  came  in,  followed 
by  La  Fourcade,  brigadier-general,  and  Commandant 
of  Berlin. 


182  A  VAGABOND  COUETIER 

"His  Majesty  came  straight  towards  me,  and  asked 
me  with  some  quickness  where  I  came  from,  and  why 
I  had  returned  to  Berlin.  I  repHed  that  I  came  from 
France,  and  was  recalled  to  Berlin  by  my  private  busi- 
ness. This  Prince  contiimed  to  question  me  about  my 
affairs,  and  seemed  very  pleased  with  what  I  had  the 
honour  to  reply  to  him,  and,  turning  to  La  Fourcade, 
said  to  him  that  he  would  never  have  recognized  me 
unless  he  had  been  told  it  was  me.  He  then  told  me 
that  he  looked  upon  me  as  a  Frenchman.  I  replied  that 
I  should  consider  myself  most  unfortunate  if  His  Majesty 
thought  this  of  me,  and  that,  however  far  I  might 
be  from  his  Person  and  his  States,  I  should  always  think 
myself  honoured  by  calling  myself  one  of  his  subjects, 
and  that  I  should  always  retain  for  my  King  and  my 
country  the  feelings  of  respect  and  fidelity  in  which  I 
have  been  brought  up. 

"  The  King  next  asked  me  if  I  was  planning  to  sell 
my  estates.  I  confessed  that  this  was  the  only  means 
I  had  left  by  which  to  put  myself  in  a  position  to  satisfy 
my  creditors.  I  even  begged  him  to  interpose  his 
authority,  so  as  to  compel  Fraulein  von  Pollnitz  to 
consent  to  this  sale.     The  King  said  he  would  give 

his  orders  with  regard  to  that  to  M.  de  C ,  in  order 

that  she  might  be  brought  round  about  it,  and  then 
dismissed  me  graciously."" 

Pollnitz  returned  to  Berlin,  and  did  not  fail  to  thank 
the  Margravine  for  her  kind  offices  with  the  King.  A 
few  days  later,  when  the  Queen  had  returned  from 
Charlottenburg,he  went  to  pay  his  respects,  and  was  most 
kindly  received.  "  When  it  became  known  how  Their 
Majesties  had  received  me,  it  was  sufficient  to  make  the 
courtiers  pay  me  attentions  which  I  otherwise  should 
not  have  dared  to  hope  for." 

However,  he  "  cared  little  for  these  gentlemen's 
civihties,"  and  set  about  concluding  the  great  business 
fori^Avhich  he  had  come.  He  offered  cousin  Charlotte 
very  reasonable  terms,  in  order  to  gain  her  consent. 


THE  VAGRANT  183 

The  King  ordered  her  to  be  written  to,  at  Hanover, 
informing  her  that  he  considered  them  very  moderate, 
and  that  she  would  please  him  by  accepting  them. 
Pollnitz  went  himself  to  Hanover  to  try  and  win  her 
over.  But  neither  these  good  recommendations  nor 
the  visits  he  paid  her  had  any  effect,  and  the  "  poisonous 
dragon '"  remained  obdurate. 

When  the  Baron  returned  from  Hanover  the  King 
sent  for  him  again.  He  was  introduced  into  the 
Tabagie  by  one  of  the  favourites,  and  found  the  King 
playing  tric-trac,  and  the  Prince  of  Anhalt  and  other 
generals  and  officers  present. 

"  The  King  rose  when  he  had  finished  his  game  and 
came  towards  me  and  talked  very  graciously.  Then, 
seating  himself,  he  ordered  all  those  present  to  do  the 
same,  and  each  sat  down,  without  any  regard  to  rank. 
The  King  was  smoking,  as  were  most  of  those  in  the 
study.  Happily  no  one  offered  me  a  pipe,  which  was 
a  great  joy  to  me,  for  never  in  my  life  have  I  been  able 
to  smoke. 

"  The  King  talked  to  me  much  about  my  affairs. 
Ere  long  I  perceived  that  my  cousin  had  won  this  Prince 
over  to  her  side  ;  for,  directly  it  was  a  question  of  my 
estate,  he  told  me  very  frankly  that  I  should  not  do 
well  in  getting  rid  of  it,  even  should  my  cousin  give  her 
consent ;  that,  far  from  paying  my  debts  with  the 
money  that  would  accrue  to  me  from  this  sale,  I  should 
spend  it  on  my  own  pleasures  ;  that  it  was  time  to  think 
of  something  else,  which,  while  giving  me  occupation, 
would  place  me  in  a  position  to  pay  my  debts.  He 
added  that,  however,  if  I  persisted  in  wishing  to  sell  my 
estates,  he  would  write  again  to  Fraulein  von  Pollnitz 
to  induce  her  to  consent  to  it ;  that  it  was  all  he  could 
do  for  me  in  any  circumstances,  as,  in  justice,  he  could 
not  compel  her  to  give  her  consent  to  what  she  thought 
would  be  injurious  to  her. 

"  After  talking  a  little  more  about  my  private  affairs 
His  Majesty  touched  on  the  rumour  that  had  been  spread 


184  A  VAGABOISD  COUETIER 

in  Berlin  about  my  change  of  religion,  and  asked  me 
if  it  were  true  that  I  was  a  Papist.  I  replied  to  him 
that  I  was  of  the  same  religion  as  my  fathers. 

"  I  will  now  confess,  to  my  shame,  that  I  had  not 
courage  to  announce  publicly  that  I  was  a  Catholic. 
Moreover,  I  thought  that,  under  such  pressure  of  cir- 
cumstances, I  could  get  out  of  the  dilemma  by  an 
ambiguity.  The  doctors  do  the  same ;  this  moral  is 
very  well  thought  of  among  them.  The  ambiguity 
consisted  in  that,  by  '  the  religion  of  my  fathers/ 
I  meant  that  which  my  grandfather  and  my  great- 
grandfather had  professed — and,  indeed,  all  my  ancestors 
had  been  Catholics.  My  grandfather  was,  but  he 
embraced  the  New  Religion  in  order  to  swim  with  the 
stream.  The  King  believed,  from  what  I  said,  that  I 
still  adhered  to  the  Reformed  Faith,  and  did  not  insist 
on  my  saying  any  more  on  this  subject. 

"  But  the  Prince  of  Anhalt  was  not  so  easy  to  satisfy  ; 
he  told  His  Majesty  that,  to  assure  himself  of  the  truth 
of  what  I  had  just  said,  it  would  be  necessary  to  force 
me  to  make  my  Communion  at  the  cathedral.  The  King 
quite  agreed  with  him,  but  the  advice  had  no  effect. 

"  When  I  left  the  King,  the  Prince  of  Anhalt,  who 
seemed  anxious  to  know  the  truth  about  my  conversion, 
put  it  on  my  conscience  ;  he  blamed  me  very  much  for 
not  having  confessed  that  I  was  a  Catholic.  As  I  was 
not  sure  which  way  these  remonstrances  tended,  I 
took  care  not  to  open  my  heart  to  this  nobleman,  and 
stuck  to  my  negative.'' 

Pollnitz's  audience  with  the  King  had  pleased  the 
latter  so  much,  and  he  spoke  so  well  of  him  one  day 
among  his  courtiers,  that  Pollnitz's  friends  advised  him 
to  seize  this  ray  of  favour,  and  beg  for  an  appointment. 
So  he  wrote  to  the  King  at  Potsdam,  and  two  days  later 
came  a  reply,  signed  with  the  King's  own  hand. 

"  I  have  received  your  letter  of  January  9th,  1718. 
In  reply,  I  will  tell  you  that  I  will  grant  you  the  first 


THE  VAGEANT  185 

salary   of    Gentleman    of    the    Chamber    which    falls 
vacant, 

"  Frederic  William." 

Much  impressed  with  the  King's  kindness,  Pollnitz 
hastened  to  thank  him  directly  he  returned  from  Berlin. 
The  King  replied  that  it  was  not  worth  while  for  such 
a  trifle. 

"  It  seemed  to  me  good  enough  to  begin  with  for  a 
man  unused  to  seeing  his  plans  succeed.  The  courtiers 
vied  with  each  other  in  every  possible  welcome ;  from 
all  sides  I  received  congratulations,  which  convinced 
me  that  I  was  in  favour. 

**  But  my  star  did  not  long  allow  me  to  remain  in 
peace,  and  soon  a  storm  arose  which  drove  me  farther 
from  my  haven  than  I  had  hitherto  been  blown.'' 

When,  early  in  1718,  Frederic  William  recalled  Baron 
Kniphausen  from  the  embassy  at  Paris,  Pollnitz  was 
one  of  those  who  applied  for  the  post,  which  would  have 
suited  him  exactly,  and  for  which  he  was  not  unfitted. 
Moreover,  he  offered  to  take  it  without  much  expense 
to  the  State,  at  a  reduction  of  two  hundred  crowns  a 
month  of  the  usual  salary.  The  Minister,  Grumbkow, 
was  pleased  with  the  suggestion,  and  promised  to 
further  it  with  the  King.  Pollnitz  himself  discussed 
it  with  Ilgen,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  whose  daughter 
was  married  to  Kniphausen. 

Ilgen  received  Pollnitz  with  all  possible  politeness, 
promising  on  oath  to  serve  him  in  this  matter,  and 
adding  that  he  was  but  too  pleased  to  show  his  respect 
and  veneration  for  Pollnitz's  family.  Ilgen  was  a  man 
of  no  birth,  brilliant,  hard-working,  "  whose  own  brains 
had  raised  him,  but  cold,  calculating,  and  selfish,  whose 
words  meant  nothing.  This  great  civility  on  his  part 
made  Pollnitz  suspicious.  Further,  the  Minister  in- 
sisted upon  seeing  him  down  to  his  coach.     The  Baron 


186  A  VAGABOND  COUETIER 

demurred  with  him  on  the  doorstep,  imploring  him  to 
escort  him  no  farther,  as  it  was  pouring  with  rain.  It 
was  useless ;  the  great  Minister  remained  at  the  coach- 
door  till  it  moved  of!.  "  That  was  all  he  did  for  me  ! 
For,  far  from  helping  me  with  the  King,  he  did  quite  the 
contrary." 

Pollnitz  was  subsequently  informed  that  Ilgen  was 
annoyed  with  him  for  asking  a  reduction  of  salary,  as 
his  SOD -in-law,  a  very  extravagant  man,  was  always 
WTiting  from  Paris  that  what  he  received  was  not  enough 
to  live  upon. 

"To  crown  my  happiness,  the  King  received  an 
anonymous  letter  assuring  him  that  I  was  indeed  a 
Catholic."  With  it  was  enclosed  the  authentic  attesta- 
tion of  Pere  Denys,  into  whose  hands  Pollnitz  had 
entrusted  his  confession  of  faith.  "  The  King  seemed 
angry  with  me,  and  complained  that  I  had  deceived 
him.  Several  people  exaggerated  the  alarm  of  the 
royal  displeasure." 

At  first  Pollnitz  was  not  frightened,  thinking  that 
the  talk  was  only  in  order  to  get  him  away  from  Court, 
and  that  the  King  was  not  so  angry  with  him  as  was 
made  out ;  but,  at  last,  he  received  a  warning  that  the 

King  might  have  him  arrested.     One  H ,  who  was 

an  ally  of  M ,  a  favourite  of  the  King,  came  to  bring 

Pollnitz  the  warning. 

"  In  honour  I  thought  he  could  not  do  me  an  ill 
turn.  For  this  H- — —  was  a  wretch,  who,  after  having 
run  through  a  large  fortune,  lived  on  a  small  salary  the 
King  gave  him  because  he  had  served  with  the  King 
of  Sweden  at  Stralsund,  and  on  an  office  few  would 
have  accepted  ;  as  his  salary  was  not  enough  to  live 
upon,  several  people  helped  him.  I  may,  indeed,  say 
that,  though  not  in  easy  circumstances  myself,  I  had 
been  of  some  use  to  him.  But  I  can  declare  that  he 
repaid  me  with  ingratitude.  It  was  he  who  exaggerated 
the  report,  which,  in  itself,  was  not  enough  to  force  me 
to  leave  Court,  but  the  way  in  which  he  put  it  led  me 


THE  VAGRANT  187 

to  believe  that  I  was  irretrievably  ruined  if  I  insisted 
on  staying  in  Berlin. 

*'  He  came  to  my  room  one  day  with  a  horrified  ex- 
pression, and  told  me  that  he  had  just  learnt  from 

Herr  von  M that   directly  the   King  returned  I 

should  infallibly  be  arrested.  His  remarks  were  accom- 
panied by  such  an  expression  of  emotion  that  I  believed 
every  word  he  said.  I  decided  to  leave.  The  difficulty 
was  to  raise  the  money,  and  that  I  only  succeeded  in 
doing  by  making  many  bad  agreements  which  put  me 
in  great  difficulties  later. '" 


CHAPTER   XII 

Having  turned  everything  that  he  could  into  money, 
Pollnitz  left  Berlin  by  night,  giving  out  that  he  was 
going  to  Hanover.  But  directly  he  was  outside  the 
city  he  took  the  Leipzig  road.  After  a  few  days'  stay 
there  he  went  to  Mainz,  where  he  had  a  cousin  in  the 
Elector's  service,  who  received  him  kindly  and  pre- 
sented him  to  the  Prince-Archbishop,  the  first  Elector 
of  the  Empire,  and  Count  of  the  Schonborn  family.  He 
was  a  feeble,  kind  old  man,  adored  by  his  subjects  and 
very  zealous  for  the  weal  of  the  Empire. 
But  Pollnitz  did  not  linger  at  Mainz  : 

"  Like  all  cities  under  an  ecclesiastical  ruler,  it  is  very 
dull.  There  is  a  large  aristocracy,  but  they  only  meet 
ceremoniously.  Men  see  very  little  of  the  ladies  ;  wine 
appeared  to  be  more  to  their  taste.  The  great  amuse- 
ment of  the  inhabitants  is  to  go  in  summer-time  and 
drink  the  waters  at  Wiesbaden,  Schwalbach,  and 
Schlangenbad.  During  that  season  Mainz,  Frankfurt, 
and  Darmstadt  are  deserts." 

At  the  Court  of  the  Duke  of  Wlirtemberg  Pollnitz 
had  another  relation,  and  perceived  another  opportunity 
for  obtaining  free  board,  lodging,  and  entertainment  at 
yet  another  palace.  For  a  von  Pollnitz,  one  of  the 
Saxon  branch,  was  a  member  of  the  Duke's  Privy 
Council,  or  Cabinet.  Moreover,  the  Hereditary  Prince 
of  Wlirtemberg  had  married  Henrietta,  daughter  of 
Pollnitz 's  old  protector,  the  Margrave  Philip  of  Schwedt. 

But  the  Baron  did  not  stay  at  Stuttgart.  For  the 
old  ducal  Schloss,  with  its  matchless  orangery,  was  de- 

188 


.JSL' 


THE  VAGRANT  189 

serted,  its  only  inhabitant  the  forlorn  Duchess,  who 
lived  in  great  seclusion,  her  only  comfort  the  frequent 
visits  of  her  only  son.  For  twenty  years  past  Duke 
Eberhard  had  been  under  the  thumb  of  her  proud 
and  successful  rival,  Countess  von  Gravenitz.  Extra- 
ordinary seemed  such  devotion  to  Pollnitz,  accustomed 
to  the  fickle  and  fleeting  amours  of  the  period. 

In  vain  had  the  Emperor  himself  tried  to  detach 
Eberhard  from  his  mistress.  The  Duke  had  married 
her  to  Count  Wurben,  and  then  despatched  him  to 
Vienna  as  ambassador.  The  Gravenitz,  unable  to 
dislodge  the  Duchess  from  the  castle  at  Stuttgart,  had 
induced  the  Duke  to  build  for  her  the  magnificent 
country  palace  of  Ludwigsburg.  Here  she  held  court, 
and  all  bowed  before  her  imperious  will.  No  effort  had 
she  spared  to  become  Duchess,  indeed,  she  was  it  in  all 
but  name,  and  at  forty  still  all-powerful  with  the 
infatuated  old  man. 

Pollnitz,  however,  upon  this  occasion  did  not  pay 
a  visit  to  this  "  German  Pompadour."  He  followed  the 
Duke,  who  was  at  the  baths  of  Wildbad,  or  Wildsbadt, 
with  his  son  and  daughter-in-law.  Wildbad  Pollnitz 
thought  "  one  of  the  most  horrid  places  in  Germany," 
but  its  waters  were  of  much  repute  for  sciatica  and 
nerves.  He  found  the  fat,  jolly  Duke,  bathing,  with  his 
son  and  other  gentlemen  he  had  invited,  in  the  big  bath, 
which  held  twenty  people.  After  the  bath  they  all 
rested.  About  noon  they  assembled  in  the  Duke's 
apartment,  and  passed  into  that  of  the  Hereditary 
Princess,  who  lodged  at  a  house  opposite.  There  was 
a  table  laid  for  sixteen,  the  guests  and  the  household, 
etc.,  with  the  Duke,  who  was  affable  and  popular.  " Few 
Princes  live  so  familiarly  with  their  courtiers.  After 
dinner  the  Duke  rides,  or  has  ridden  before  him,  some  of 
his  highly  trained  horses.'"  Never  had  Pollnitz  seen 
"  horses  so  fine  or  so  well  kept.'"  The  Duke  himself 
"  still  rode  perfectly ;  he  was  a  finished  adept  at  all 
bodily  exercises.  Sometimes  it  amused  him  to  drive 
his  coaches  himself.    I  have  seen  him  drive  eight  horses, 


190  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

without  a  postillion,  and  make  them  perform  as  if  it 
were  one  horse/' 

In  the  evening  the  company  assembled  for  cards  at 
the  Hereditary  Princess's  till  supper-time.  The  Prince 
was  a  gentle,  kind-hearted  little  fellow,  who  had  travelled 
much  about  Europe ;  he  was  passionately  fond  of  dis- 
play, dancing,  the  theatre,  music,  and  who,  though  he 
was  not  robust,  rode  seven  or  eight  horses  every  morning. 
His  wife  was  a  fine  woman,  with  distinguished  manners, 
very  grave,  and  little  inclined  to  court  amusements, 
but  very  fond  of  dress,  and  dancing  splendidly ;  "  ex- 
tremely gracious,  and  polite  to  every  one,  but  particularly 
to  those  whom  she  had  known  at  the  Court  of  Prussia. 
She  did  me  the  honour  to  converse  with  me  sometimes, 
and  I  found  she  had  much  sense,  and  opinions  suit- 
able to  her  birth."  As  the  Duke  was  a  Lutheran,  his 
daughter-in-law  Reformed,  and  the  heir-presumptive 
after  the  Hereditary  Prince  (who  had  only  one  daughter), 
his  cousin.  Prince  Alexander,  was  a  Catholic,  there  were 
no  less  than  three  chapels  at  this  Court. 

Whether  it  was  that  the  waters  of  Wildbad  did  not 
suit  Pollnitz,  he  became  so  ill  of  a  malady  which  had 
troubled  him  for  some  years  that,  instead  of  going,  as 
he  had  intended,  to  Vienna,  he  returned  to  Strasburg, 
hoping  to  find  a  clever  surgeon  to  operate  upon  him. 
On  the  advice  of  the  Governor,  Marshal  Dubourg,  he 
consulted  the  one  in  charge  of  the  Great  Hospital. 

"  I  do  not  know  if  he  be  a  clever  surgeon,  but  I  am 
sure  he  is  a  very  dangerous  doctor.  He  took  it  into  his 
head  to  give  me  drugs  in  order  to  prepare  me,  he  said, 
for  the  operation,  but  which  nearly  despatched  me  into 
the  other  world.  Happily,  I  found  out  his  ignorance 
soon  enough  not  to  give  him  time  to  kill  me." 

Discontinuing  his  prescriptions,  Pollnitz,  when  he 
was  sufficiently  recovered  to  stand  the  journey,  decided 
to  return  to  Paris,  "  as  the  headquarters  of  the  most 
experienced  surgeons." 


THE  VAGRANT  191 

Staying  a  few  days  at  Saverne,  he  was  hospitably 
welcomed  by  the  great  Cardinal  de  Rohan,  who  was 
entertaining  a  large  company.  Thence  he  went  to 
Luneville.  Here,  since  the  last  war,  when  the  French 
had  taken  Nancy,  the  Duke  and  Duchess  of  Lorraine  and 
Bar  kept  court,  as  the  town  had  been  given  as  part  of 
her  dowry  to  the  Duchess,  the  only  daughter  of  Madame. 
So  here  again  Pollnitz  found  a  friend. 

The  Duke  lived  in  great  state.  His  first  Minister 
was  Prince  Craon,  high  in  favour,  who  had  married  his 
daughter  to  the  Prince  of  Lixen,  formerly  known  as  the 
Chevalier  de  Lorraine,  who  had  been  the  boon  com- 
panion of  Monsieur  in  his  wild  youth,  and  Madame's 
enemy.  The  Baron  found  the  Princesse  de  Lixen  very 
pleasant,  and  so,  he  says,  did  the  Duke,  for  he  spent  his 
afternoons  with  her  during  Pollnitz's  visit.  The  Duke 
and  Duchess  had  rebuilt  and  enlarged  and  beautified  the 
chateau  of  Luneville,  in  imitation  of  that  of  Versailles, 
and  were  still  at  work  on  it.  Soon  afterwards  it  was 
almost  entirely  burnt  down. 

Pollnitz  went  to  Paris  by  Nancy,  Toul,  and  on  by 
Louis  XIV's  grand  new  road  through  the  forest  of  Haye 
to  Bar-le-Duc,  Chalons,  Chateau  Thierry,  and  Meaux. 
After  a  few  days  spent  in  paying  visits  of  friendship  and 
duty,  he  put  himself  in  the  hands  of  the  famous  La 
Peronie  for  the  operation.  It  was,  of  course,  long 
before  the  days  of  anaesthetics,  and,  though  La  Peronie 
was  as  clever  as  possible,  poor  Pollnitz  "  suffered 
cruelly." 

"  During  my  illness,  which  lasted  some  time,  my 
friends  bore  me  company  faithfully,  and  took  care  to 
keep  me  informed  of  all  that  was  going  on ;  and,  if  I 
had  been  allowed  to  betray  them,  or,  if  I  had  not  been 
bound  by  duty  to  the  Government,  I  could  have  given 
some  advice  which  would  have  been  to  the  Regent's 
advantage,  and  he  could  have  stifled  at  ignition  a 
conflagration  which  he  was  able  to  extinguish  more  by 
good  luck  than  good  management.'' 


192  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

The  Regent,  indeed,  had  his  hands  full.  France  was 
in  the  crisis  of  the  struggle  between  the  Government 
and  the  Parliament,  "  which  is,"  writes  Madame,  "  an 
endless  trouble  to  my  son,  and  excites  the  citizens  and 
populace  of  Paris  against  him  more  than  ever.  .  .  .  Law 
is  extremely  unpopular."  She  feared  the  Due  de 
Maine  and  "  The  Dwarf,"  his  wife,  "  plotting  treacher- 
ously against  the  Regent." 

Orleans  was  anxious  about  the  Emperor's  war  against 
the  Turks,  Alberoni's  aggressions  in  Sicily  and  Sardinia, 
and  the  naval  war  between  Spain  and  England.  He 
was  employing  every  means  to  induce  the  King  of 
Spain  to  peace ;  but  they  all  failed,  and  finally  he 
prepared  to  declare  war. 

Then  suddenly,  at  this  moment,  the  Regent  happily 
discovered  "  a  plot  smouldering  against  him  in  the  heart 
of  the  kingdom."    Voltaire  says  that — 

"  The  King  of  England  had  already  warned  him  that 
something  was  machinating.  .  .  .  The  Regent  had  no 
doubt  but  what  all  these  intrigues  were  fomented  by 
Cardinal  Alberoni,  and  he  had  the  Prince  of  Cellamare, 
the  ambassador  of  Spain,  closely  watched.  .  .  .  Nothing 
less  than  the  Duke's  removal  from  the  Regency  was 
afoot.  The  Spanish  Minister  had  collected  a  body  of 
men  in  France  who  wandered  about  the  kingdom  as  if 
they  were  smugglers,  hawking  salt  and  other  merchan- 
dise. These  troops,  on  a  certain  day,  were  to  enter 
Paris,  invest  the  Palais  Royal,  and  secure  the  Regent 
in  person.  The  plot  was  only  discovered  just  at  the  time 
when  it  was  to  have  been  carried  out.  Not  that  I  suspect 
the  Prince  of  Cellamare  to  have  betrayed  the  Cardinal, 
but  perhaps  he  did  not  sufficiently  mistrust  those  with 
whom  he  had  to  deal ;  for  I  have  been  told  that  a  packet 
containing  all  the  story  of  the  plot  and  the  names  of 
the  conspirators  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Abbe 
Portocarrero,  in  the  presence  of  two  servants  whose 
fidelity  was  not  proof  against  the  louis  d'or  of  the 
Palais  Royal.     Besides  this,  the  Abbe,  though  a  man 


THE    REGENT    ORLEANS. 
From  the  Collection  of  A.  M.  Broadley. 


192] 


THE   VAGRANT  193 

of  parts,  was  not  experienced  enough,  or  prudent  enough, 
to  carry  out  safely  such  a  delicate  business/" 

Pollnitz's  version  is  that  the  Abbe  Portocarrero 
"  started  for  Madrid  laden  with  despatches  which  held 
the  fates  of  many  people,  and  had  not  gone  far  before 
his  post-chaise  broke  down  crossing  a  ford."  The  Abbe 
Anquetal,  in  his  Memoirs,  says  that — 

"  The  implicative  papers  were  placed  in  the  false 
bottom  of  the  post-chaise  ;  that  the  Abbe  was  misguided 
enough  to  take  a  German  as  travelling  companion ;  that 
the  latter  was  stopped  by  the  police,  and,  the  chaise 
being  searched  for  his  belongings,  the  Abbe's  papers  were 
discovered/' 

Pollnitz  narrates  that  the  Abbe  thought  he  was 
going  to  be  drowned,  yet,  in  spite  of  his  danger,  seemed 
more  concerned  for  his  papers  than  his  own  life.  This 
care  for  the  preservation  of  his  precious  box  seemed 
suspicious  to  those  who  were  driving  him  ;  the  detectives 
that  the  Duke  had  set  round  Portocarrero  warned  the 
former  in  time  for  orders  to  reach  the  Commandant  of 
Poitiers  to  arrest  him,  which  was  done,  and  he  was 
brought  back  to  Paris. 

Prince  Cellamare,  being  warned  of  what  had  hap- 
pened, demanded  the  despatch-box,  as  containing  the 
Embassy  papers.  It  was  hinted  to  him  that  the  authori- 
ties were  in  no  mind  to  take  his  word  for  it.  The  box 
was  opened  at  the  Palais  Royal,  and  the  whole  plot  was 
found  in  it,  and  the  names  of  all  concerned. 

Pollnitz  says  that — 

"  What  the  Regent  felt  most  was  the  finding  of  the 
names  of  persons  whom  he  had  loaded  with  favours.  His 
Royal  Highness  acted  with  such  moderation  under 
these  delicate  circumstances,  and  his  conduct  was  so 
moderate,  that  it  was  hardly  apparent  that  anything 
extraordinary  had  occurred  in  France.  He  had  the 
Abbe  Portocarrero  released,  as  being  of  no  value.  As 
for  the  Prince  of  Cellamare,  he  was  invited  to  a  con- 

1-13 


194  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

sultation  at  the  Palais  Koyal,  and  directly  he  had 
arrived  there  everything  at  his  own  house  was  put  under 
seal." 

The  Ministers  conducted  him  back  to  his  Hotel,  where 
he  was  surprised  to  find  a  guard,  ordered  to  be  responsible 
for  his  person.  A  few  days  later  his  papers  were  ex- 
amined in  his  presence,  and  then  boxes  were  filled  with 
them,  were  sealed,  and  carried  to  the  Louvre  till  the  King 
of  Spain  should  send  reliable  people  to  take  them  out. 
At  last,  on  December  13th,  the  Prince  of  Cellamare  left 
Paris  under  escort.  As  for  the  smugglers,  they  dis- 
appeared directly  the  plot  came  to  light. 

On  December  29th  Madame  took  up  her  pen  : 

"  I  am  so  troubled  that  my  hand  trembles  as  I  write. 
My  son  has  just  come  and  told  me  that  he  has  decided 
to  have  his  brother-in-law  and  his  wife  arrested.  All 
has  been  discovered.  Papers  have  been  seized  at  the 
Paris  Embassy,  and  those  arrested  have  made  complete 
avowals.  The  Duchesse  has  been  sent  to  Dijon,  her 
husband  to  the  castle  of  Doubes.  All  the  others  to  the 
Bastille." 

The  Maines  were  the  head  and  front  of  the  plot  in 
France.  The  Duke  had  never  forgiven  nor  forgotten 
that  Philip  of  Orleans  had  been  made  Eegent  instead 
of  himself. 

"  The  Due  de  Maine,"  writes  Pollnitz,  "  had  been  the 
evening  before  to  pay  a  visit  to  his  sister,  the  Duchesse 
d'Orleans,  and  had  stayed  three  hours  ;  he  had  returned 
to  Sceaux,  and  was  arrested  next  morning  early,  and 
taken  under  a  strong  guard  to  the  castle  of  Doubes. 
The  same  day,  very  early,  his  wife  was  arrested,  almost 
in  bed,  by  the  same  officer  whom  she  had  been  enter- 
taining to  supper  till  the  small  hours  only  the  night 
before,  and  who  found,  on  his  return  home,  the  lettre  de 
cachet  appointing  him  to  a  job  he  would  willingly  have 
got  out  of.  The  Duchesse  was  taken  to  the  castle  of 
Dijon,  her  head  servants  to  the  Bastille  and  Vincennes. 


THE  VAGRANT  195 

The  Cardinal  de  Polignac  [favourite  of  the  Duchesse] 
was  exiled  to  his  Abbey  of  Anchin,  the  Prince  de  Douches 
and  the  Comte  d'Eu  to  Eu." 

Meanwhile,  in  Spain  the  King  had  been  insulting 
the  French  ambassador,  d'Aignan.  The  latter  had 
taken  his  leave  of  the  King  and  Queen — -the  former 
was  dangerously  ill — but  remained  a  few  days  to  see 
how  the  illness  would  turn.  It  seems  that  the  King 
having  told  him  that,  in  the  event  of  his  death,  he  had 
appointed  Alberoni  Regent,  the  Duke  replied  that 
wills  like  that  of  Louis  XIV  can  be  broken.  This  so 
displeased  the  Cardinal  that  d'Aignan  was  ordered  to 
leave  Madrid  in  twenty-four  hours.  Nine  hours  later 
he  and  the  Duchess  were  awoke  out  of  bed  and  escorted 
by  the  Bodyguard  out  of  the  town. 

"  Alberoni,  who  did  not  yet  know  if  ;his  plot  was 
discovered,  wrote  in  haste  to  Cellamare  to  tell  him 
how  he  had  dismissed  d'Aignan,  but  that  Cellamare 
was  to  stand  firm  in  Paris,  unless  removed  by  force, 
protesting.  The  Cardinal  added  :  '  Supposing  your 
Excellency  is  obliged  to  leave,  you  will  first  set  a 
match  to  the  mines/  not  knowing  that  they  had  already 
exploded. 

"  This  letter,  which  was  of  course  opened,  confirmed 
the  plot  of  Cellamare,  and  the  affronts  offered  to  the 
ambassador  of  the  Very  Christian  Majesty  clenched 
the  Regent's  opinion  that  the  Spanish  monarch  wished 
to  proceed  to  the  last  extremity.  War  was  declared 
on  both  sides,  and  Spain  did  not  come  out  of  it  with 
honour." 

Now  as  to  how  these  startling  events  affected  Pollnitz 
himself.  For  once  in  a  way  his  luck  had  been  good. 
He  had  been  safer  in  La  Peronie's  hands,  however  cruel, 
than  he  would  have  been  out  of  them. 

"  Although  I  was  not  among  those  in  the  plot,  I 


196  A  VAGABOND  COUETIER 

appeared  as  if  I  was  ;  several  councils  had  been  held  by 
my  sick-bed  ;  I  was  friends  with  those  who  were  in- 
volved in  the  afltair ;  at  last,  partly  from  caution, 
partly  from  panic,  I  made  up  my  mind  to  fly.  I 
left  Paris  somewhat  precipitately,  intending  to  go  to 
the  Palatine  Court,  and  to  stay  there  till  the  storm 
should  entirely  have  blown  over  ;  and  to  reach  Germany 
by  way  of  Lorraine,  which  I  had  much  difficulty  in 
doing.  I  had  no  passport,  and  the  orders  of  the  Court 
were  to  detain  every  one  without  one.  I  decided  to 
make  use  of  stratagem.  A  league  out  of  Toul,  which 
is  the  last  fortress  in  France,  I  pretended  to  be  ill,  in 
order  to  have  a  pretext  for  stopping  and  sending  back 
my  postillion.  I  spent  the  night  in  a  village,  and,  on 
rising  very  early  in  the  morning,  I  told  my  hostess 
that  I  was  going  into  Toul  on  foot,  and  begged  her  to 
send  my  boots  to  an  address  I  gave  her.  My  plan  was 
to  enter  Toul  as  if  I  were  a  man  belonging  to  the  town ;  I 
hoped  that,  being  on  foot  and  not  looking  like  a  traveller, 
I  should  pass  without  being  detained. 

"  Not  at  all.  The  guard  stopped  me,  and  asked 
me  who  I  was  and  whither  I  was  going.  I  said  that  I 
was  a  German,  and  had  been  a  valet  de  chambre  to  a 
German  lord  who  had  died  in  Paris,  and  that  I  was 
going  home.  The  sergeant  took  me  to  the  Commandant, 
who  seemed  to  me  a  surly  fellow.  Nevertheless,  I 
thought  that  I  should  be  wrong  to  complain,  and  made 
out  that  I  was  a  valet,  and  indeed  he  treated  me  as 
such.  He  asked  me  several  questions,  to  which  I  still 
replied  as  a  very  humble  valet,  hoping  to  soften  his 
black  looks ;  but  nothing  could  protect  me  from  his 
harshness. 

"  '  You  are  not  a  valet,  my  friend,'  said  he.  '  You 
are  probably,  I  think,  some  bankrupt.  You  must  tell 
me  the  truth,  or  I  shall  have  you  put  in  the  cells.' 

"  I  still  maintained  that  I  was  a  valet ;  but  the  man 
was  not  satisfied  with  my  replies,  and  had  me  removed 
to  the  guard-room,  where  he  left  me  for  five  or  six  hours, 
at  the  end  of  which  time  he  sent  to  tell  me  that  I  could 


THE  VAGRANT  197 

go  to  an  inn.  A  soldier  took  me  there,  but  did  not  leave 
me.  Next  day  the  same  soldier  took  me  again  to  the 
Commandant,  who  had  me  brought  into  his  study,  and 
told  me  that  it  was  useless  to  conceal  any  longer  who 
I  was,  as  he  had  just  been  informed  by  a  man  who 
knew  me. 

"  I  confess  that  I  began  to  feel  alarmed,  but  yet  I 
maintained  my  thesis  with  all  possible  boldness.  He 
then  called  one  of  his  servants  and  told  him  to  bring 
the  man  who  said  that  he  knew  me.  Happily,  this 
man  existed  only  in  his  imagination.  Nevertheless,  he 
grew  very  impatient  when  he  did  not  come.  At  last 
he  told  me  that  I  must  go  back  to  the  guard-house, 
and  that  I  must  stay  there  till  I  had  given  him  clearly 
to  understand  who  I  was. 

"  I  thought  of  an  expedient  which  succeeded.  I  told 
him  that  I  was  willing  to  remain  under  arrest  till  I  had 
received  a  reply  from  the  landlady,  in  whose  house  my 
master  had  died,  who  would  confirm  what  I  had  asserted. 
He  gave  me  paper,  and  I  did  indeed  write  to  my  land- 
lady in  Paris,  in  the  name  of  a  valet  de  chambre  I  had 
left  at  her  house.  As  she  had  a  nimble  wit,  and  as  she 
knew  my  writing,  I  was  sure  she  would  easily  make  out 
what  was  the  matter. 

"  My  letter  written,  I  remitted  it  to  the  Commandant. 
He  read  it,  and  told  me  that  he  would  undertake  to 
have  it  sent,  and  to  obtain  a  reply.  Meantime  he  sent 
me  back  to  my  inn,  and  two  hours  later  he  sent  to  tell 
me  that  I  could  proceed  on  my  way. 

"  You  may  be  sure  that  I  did  not  need  telling  twice. 
I  left  Toul  afoot,  hired  a  horse  in  a  village  belonging  to 
the  Prince  of  Elboeuf,  and  went  to  Nancy,  where  I 
took  the  precaution  of  obtaining  a  passport.  The  host 
where  I  lodged  got  one  for  me  in  the  name  of  a  Nancy 
shopkeeper. 

"Not  deeming  it  wise  to  pass  by  Strasburg,  where  I 
might  have  been  recognized,  I  made  for  Hagenau, 
thence  for  Fort  S.  Louis,  where  I  crossed  the  Rhine, 
and  at  last  arrived  at  Heidelberg  early  in  1719." 


CHAPTER   XIII 

For  over  a  hundred  years  previous  to  Pollnitz's  visit, 
Heidelberg,  so  beautifully  situated  among  the  moun- 
tains, in  a  wooded  gorge  of  the  Neckar,  had  suffered 
terribly  by  fire  and  sword.  It  had  undergone  five  sieges, 
and  in  the  sack  by  Tilly  its  famous  library  had  been 
stolen  and  sent  to  the  Vatican.  Madame's  grandfather, 
the  luckless  "  Winter  King,"  in  grasping  at  the  shadow 
of  Bohemia,  had  lost  his  ancestral  substance,  the  Rhine 
Palatinate.  Four  times  had  Louis  XIV's  armies  over- 
whelmed it,  finally  blowing  up  half  the  Electoral  Palace 
on  the  hill,  and  burning  the  town.  Madame's  brother, 
the  Elector  Charles,  over  a  quarrel  about  a  church  in 
which  he  had  to  give  way  to  his  Protestant  subjects, 
removed,  in  dudgeon,  his  capital  to  Mannheim.  His 
successor,  however,  of  the  Neuburg  branch,  occasion- 
ally inhabited  his  half-ruined  castle,  and  it  was  there 
that  Pollnitz  found  him. 

Our  Baron  admired  the  view  from  it  because  it  was 
that  of  "  the  most  beautiful  plain  in  Germany,"  and  not 
of  the  mountains  he  detested.  But  the  building  was 
not  to  his  liking,  "  not  being  in  the  taste  of  this  century  ; 
moreover,  not  one  of  the  four  wings  of  which  it  is 
composed  remained  undamaged  by  the  French." 

"  The  architecture  I  can  hardly  define  ;  it  is  neither 
Gothic  nor  modern,  it  is  a  rhapsody  of  all  the  orders, 
heaped  one  upon  the  other,  built  rather  to  cost  a  great 
deal,  without  thought  if  it  were  to  be  bad  or  good.  .  .  . 
Inside  it  was  no  more  regular  than  without,  being  full 
of  little  steps,  leading  from  room  to  room.  The  gardens, 
once  the  finest  in  Germany,"  were  desolate. 


THE  VAGRANT  199 

But  Pollnitz  enjoyed  himself  at  Heidelberg;  all  the 
more,  probably,  on  account  of  his  recent  lucky  escape. 
The  Elector  kept  a  large  and  splendid  Court,  was  himself 
"  the  delight  of  his  household,"'  and  of  his  servants, 
generous,  affable,  gentle,  yet  dignified,  though  he  liked 
to  be  spoken  to  frankly.  A  man  "  of  irreproachable 
morals,  he  was  by  no  means  an  enemy  of  pleasure  .  .  . 
he  loved  dancing  above  everything;  he  danced  too 
well,  even  for  a  Prince." 

His  only  child  was  married  to  the  Prince  of  Sulzbach, 
and  she  was  very  musical,  "  dancing  and  singing  with 
much  charm,  especially  Italian  airs,  which  she  accom- 
panied on  the  clavecin  to  perfection.'"  The  Prince, 
her  husband,  was  grave,  even  to  severity,  but  very  polite, 
especially  to  foreigners. 

The  Elector's  mode  of  life  was  peculiar  for  his  day. 
He  rose  extremely  early,  and  had  got  through  state 
business,  mass,  and  a  game  of  billiards  before  the  mid- 
day dinner  of  the  period.  This  was  a  very  lengthy 
meal.  "  Sometimes  one  drank  a  little — and  no  blame  to 
one,  for  the  wine  was  delicious."  After  dinner,  when 
the  Elector  had  escorted  his  daughter  to  her  apart- 
ments, his  matutinal  hours,  and  his  good  Rhine  wine, 
produced  their  effect  upon  him,  and  he  undressed  and 
went  to  bed  for  some  hours.  Between  five  and  six  he 
rose  and  dressed  again,  gave  audiences,  and  went  into 
the  Hall  of  Assembly,  to  the  Princess  and  the  Court,  and 
played  piquet  or  tric-trac.  When  his  game  was  over 
he  went  to  bed  again,  and  the  Princess  supped. 

During  the  afternoon,  her  husband  generally  follow- 
ing his  father's  example  and  reposing,  the  Princess  held 
receptions  in  her  lady-in-waiting's  apartments,  and  there 
was  music.  She  sang  herself,  accompanied  by  one  of 
her  ladies.  Signora  Claudia,  and  some  of  the  musicians 
of  the  Elector's  orchestra,  took  part  in  the  little  con- 
cert, "  one  of  the  most  perfect  I  have  ever  heard." 

Both  the  Elector  and  his  son  were  most  kind  to 
Pollnitz,  though,  upon  one  occasion,  he  could  not  but 
consider  their  hospitality  somewhat  overdone. 


200  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

In  one  of  the  cellars  of  the  castle  is  the  famous  Big 
Tun  of  Heidelberg,  holding  forty-nine  thousand  gallons, 
and  over  fifty  years  old  in  Pollnitz's  day. 

*'  The  Elector  often  gave  drinking-parties  on  the 
platform  above  it.  I  confess  I  cannot  understand  that 
people  can  find  any  pleasure  in  parties  in  such  a  place, 
where  one  is  not  very  comfortable,"  writes  Pollnitz. 
"  Even  if  one  is  not  very  tall,  one's  head  touches  the 
vaulting  of  the  cellar,  which,  moreover,  is  very  dark. 

"  One  day,  at  table,  the  Elector  asked  me  if  I  had 
seen  the  Great  Tun,  and,  when  I  replied  in  the  negative, 
this  Prince,  the  most  gracious  Sovereign  in  the  universe, 
told  me  he  would  show  it  me.  He  suggested  to  the 
Princess,  his  daughter,  that  they  should  go  there  after 
dinner.  She  agreed.  Trumpets  sounded  the  march, 
and  the  Court  followed  with  great  ceremony.  Having 
mounted  the  platform  above  the  tun,  the  Elector  did 
me  the  honour  to  drink  Wilkom  [sic]  in  a  silver-gilt 
cup  of  great  size.  He  emptied  it,  and,  having  had  it 
filled  again  in  his  presence,  he  presented  it  to  me  by  a 
page.  Good  manners,  and  the  respect  I  owed  to  the 
Elector's  orders,  did  not  permit  of  my  declining  this 
chalice ;  all  the  grace  I  asked  was  that  I  should  be  allowed 
to  empty  it  at  my  leisure,  and  in  several  draughts. 
This  was  granted  me. 

"  Meanwhile  the  Elector  was  chatting  with  the  ladies. 
I  made  use  of  his  absence,  and  did  not  deem  it  against 
my  conscience  to  deceive  him.  I  threw  a  good  part  of 
the  wine  under  the  tun,  another  on  the  ground,  and  I 
drank  the  smallest  part.  I  was  lucky  enough  not  to  be 
detected  in  my  trickery.  The  Elector  was  very  pleased 
with  me.  Several  other  large  glasses  were  drunk ; 
the  ladies  moistened  their  lips  and  contributed  to  our 
defeat. 

"  I  was  one  of  the  first  to  lose  control  of  myself.  I 
felt  convulsive  movements  by  which  I  was  threatened 
if  I  continued  to  drink  ;  I  stole  away,  and  got  down 
fi'om  the  platform  as  best  I  could,     I  sought  the  door  of 


THE  VAGRANT  201 

the  cellar ;  but,  when  I  showed  myself,  I  found  two  of 
the  Bodyguard,  who  shouted  at  me  with  presented 
carbines  :   '  Halt !     No  one  passes  here  !  ' 

"  I  implored  them  to  let  me  pass  ;  but  my  words  fell 
on  deaf  ears.  I  found  myself  in  a  great  predicament. 
To  get  up  on  the  tun  again  was  to  go  to  death.  What 
was  to  become  of  me  ? 

"  I  shoved  myself  under  the  tun  in  the  hope  that  I 
could  remain  there  hidden.  Useless  precaution  !  One 
does  not  escape  one's  fate.  Mine  was  to  be  carried  out  of 
the  cellar  without  knowing  that  I  was  carried.  For  the 
Elector  had  noticed  my  desertion. 

"  I  heard  him  say  :  '  Where  is  he  ?  What's  become 
of  him  ?  Look  for  him,  and  bring  him  here,  alive  or 
dead  !  ' 

"  The  guards  at  the  door  were  questioned.  They  said 
that  I  had  appeared  in  order  to  go  out,  but  that  they 
had  sent  me  back.  All  these  inquisitions,  which  I  over- 
heard in  my  niche,  made  me  draw  back  still  farther. 
I  had  covered  myself  with  two  planks  which  I  had 
happened  to  find,  and,  unless  it  were  a  cat,  or  a  devil, 
or  a  page,  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  discover  me. 

"  But  a  very  small  page,  who  was  both  devil  and  page, 
did  find  me  ;  and  began  to  scream  like  a  lunatic  :  '  Here 
he  is  !     Here  he  is  !  ' 

"  They  came  and  dragged  me  out  of  my  hiding-place. 
You  can  imagine  what  a  fool  I  felt.  I  was  taken  before 
my  Judge,  who  was  the  Elector.  I  took  the  liberty  of 
objecting  to  him,  to  him  and  to  all  the  gentlemen  of 
the  suite,  as  being  also  in  the  same  line  of  business. 

"  *  Ah  !  my  little  gentleman  !  '  the  Prince  said  to 
me.  '  You  object  to  me  as  Judge.  I  am  going  to  give 
you  others.     We  will  see  if  you  do  any  better !  ' 

"  He  appointed  the  Princess,  his  daughter,  and  her 
ladies  to  try  me.  The  Elector  was  my  prosecutor.  I 
pleaded  my  cause ;  it  was  put  to  the  vote.  I  was 
unanimously  condemned  to  drink  till  death  supervened. 

"  The  Elector  said  that,  as  the  Sovereign,  he  would 
mitigate  my  sentence  ;    that  I  was  to  drink  that  day 


202  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

four  large  glasses,  each  holding  half  a  tankard,  and  so  on 
for  fifteen  consecutive  days.  I  was  to  drink  at  his 
table,  after  eating  my  soup,  another  such  glass  to  his 
health.  Every  one  admired  the  Elector's  clemency  ;  I 
had  to  do  as  the  others  did,  and  thanked  him  for  it. 

"  I  next  underwent  my  capital  sentence.  I  did  not 
lose  my  life,  but  only,  for  a  few  hours,  my  powers  of 
speech  and  my  senses.  I  was  carried  on  to  a  bed, 
where,  when  I  came  to  my  senses  some  time  later,  I 
learnt  that  all  my  accusers  had  been  served  in  like 
manner  to  myself,  and  that  all  had  quitted  the  cellar  in 
another  manner  to  that  in  which  they  had  entered  it. 

"  The  next  day  the  Elector  had  the  kindness  to  miti- 
gate the  remainder  of  my  sentence.  He  let  me  off  the 
task  to  which  I  had  been  condemned,  and  was  satisfied 
with  the  promise  which  I  gave  him  to  eat  for  a  month  at 
his  table."' 

The  courtiers  at  Heidelberg  followed  their  master's 
example  and  were  very  civil  to  Pollnitz.  He  was  invited 
to  all  the  best  houses.  "  Every  day  great  banquets  and 
new  pleasure-parties.  I  spent  the  short  time  I  stayed  at 
Heidelberg  very  well."  He  was  so  happy  at  this  Court 
that  he  thought  he  would  ask  for  a  post  there,  and  made 
use  for  that  purpose  of  the  best  interests  he  could  find. 
However,  in  spite  of  assiduous  attentions,  he  found 
a  cabal  against  him,  which  stood  in  his  way.  "  It 
was  headed  by  very  influential  persons,  who  preferred 
to  see  only  people  obtain  appointments  whom  they 
knew  would  grovel  to  them.  The  Grand  Chamberlain 
was  the  most  opposed  to  my  advancement." 

Pollnitz  drew  down  upon  his  head  the  indignation 
of  this  official  by  one  of  his  foolish,  hot-headed  impulses. 
One  day,  as  he  was  accompanying  the  Elector  from  the 
Princess's  apartments  to  his  own,  the  Baron,  by  mistake, 
strayed  into  a  room  into  which,  by  court  etiquette,  only 
the  Grand  Chamberlain  penetrated.  Of  this  custom 
Pollnitz  was  unaware.  An  official  ordered  him  out  rather 
impatiently.     The  Baron  inquired  if  this  order  came 


THE  VAGRANT  203 

from  the  Elector.  He  was  told  that  it  came  from  the 
Grand  Chamberlain.  On  hearing  which  he  answered 
the  official  in  a  manner  which  somewhat  surprised  the 
latter,  and  gave  him  ''  a  message  to  carry,  which,  doubt- 
less, the  Grand  Chamberlain  did  not  find  much  to  his 
taste.  I  inveighed  against  the  Chamberlain  and  his 
clique  in  a  way  which,  while  it  indeed  cooled  down  my 
wrath,  was  the  reason  why  I  could  not  enter  the  service 
of  one  of  the  best  princes  in  the  world." 

Pollnitz  took  his  leave  of  the  Elector,  who  gave  him 
a  large  present,  and,  what  was  more,  letters  of  introduc- 
tion to  his  sister,  the  widowed  Empress  Eleanora,  at 
Vienna,  where  the  Baron  intended  to  seek  employment. 

But,  as  he  was  preparing  to  start,  he  received  a  letter 
from  Paris  telling  him  that  the  storm  he  had  so  much 
dreaded  was  overpast,  and  that  his  fears  had  been 
ill-founded.  The  Regent,  far  from  suspecting  him  in 
any  way,  was,  on  the  contrary — 

"  More  favourably  inclined  than  ever  before  to  show 
me  the  good  effects  of  his  patronage,  and  that,  therefore, 
I  was  advised  to  return.  As  this  information  came 
from  a  very  good  quarter,  I  had  no  scruple  about  re- 
turning to  Paris. 

"  I  presented  myself  at  the  Palais  Royal  as  before, 
and  Madame  welcomed  me  in  a  manner  which  confirmed 
me  in  the  hope  that  I  should  obtain  something  from  the 
French  Court.'' 

Pollnitz's  informant  was  right.  A  letter  more  than 
usually  caustic  from  Madame  to  her  step-sister,  the 
Raugravine  Louise,  in  January  1719,  shows  that  she  did 
not  think  that  her  protege's  sudden  disappearance  from 
Paris  had  anything  to  do  with  politics.  But  the  shrewd 
old  lady  was  not  deceived  about  his  character. 

"...  P.S.  I  must  add  yet  this.  Pellnitz  (sic)  is  a 
swindler.  He  cannot  show  his  face  in  France,  because 
he  has  cheated  every  one,  and  he  owes  money  to  God 
and  the  devil.  .  .  ." 


204  A  VAGABOND  COUETIEE 

Pollnitz  found  Paris  a  city  of  unrest.  The  war  with 
Spain  and  the  Mississippi  Bubble  were  in  full  swing,  but 
both  Law  and  Alberoni  were  marching  to  their  dooms. 
Law  and  his  great  scheme  had  fascinated  the  Regent,  and 
both  were  losing  their  heads  over  it,  and  whirling  France 
with  them.  Speculation  had  replaced  gambling.  Early 
in  1719  the  **  chimerical  value  of  the  shares  was  worth 
eighty  times  all  the  money  which  could  circulate  in 
the  kingdom  "  ;  and  still  Law  schemed.  Shrewd  old 
Madame  grew  uneasy  : 

"  Everything  has  doubled  in  price  since  last  year — 
furniture,  clothes,  food.  .  .  .  The  cause  of  all  this  financial 
difficulty  is  the  increase  of  speculation.  I  have  often 
been  told  you  don't  care  for  gambling  ;  therefore  you 
are  no  good  for  anything." 

Then  the  Regent  backed  up  Law  further.  An  edict 
was  issued  forbidding  more  than  a  hundred  francs  to  be 
paid  in  specie.  Bank-notes  were  made  obligatory  as 
currency.  Hundreds  of  thousands  of  new  shares  were 
issued,  and  the  Mississippi  Company  was  boomed. 
Princes  of  the  Blood  and  the  great  nobles  spent  their 
days  in  the  office  of  the  Company  in  the  Rue  Quin- 
campoix ;  the  narrow  old  street  was  well-nigh  im- 
passable. Glowing  accounts  came  from  the  new  colony. 
Madame  "  quite  tired  of  hearing  money  and  shares 
talked  about  and  around  me  .  .  .  250,000  more  people 
in  Paris  than  a  month  ago.  Stories  have  to  be  added 
to  the  houses,  and  the  streets  are  so  full  of  coaches  that 
people  get  run  over.  .  .  ." 

The  Due  de  Richelieu  was  arrested  by  the  Regent, 
a  letter  he  had  written  to  Alberoni  having  been  dis- 
covered. "  All  the  women  in  Paris  plunged  in  grief,'* 
writes  Madame,  for  their  "  curled  darling,"'  including 
her  o\vn  granddaughter.  Mademoiselle  de  Valois. 

PolJnitz  haunted  the  Regent's  antechamber  all  day, 
begging  for  a  post ;  to  enliven  himself,  he  went  some- 
times to  Madame  de  R 's.     "  But  these  visits  were 


THE  VAGRANT  205 

no  longer  the  result  of  an  ardent  passion,  but  only  the 
sad  resource  of  the  situation  in  which  I  found  myself." 
His  friends  now  pointed  out  to  him  what  little  hope 
of  success  he  had  at  the  French  Court.  But  once  again 
good  Abbe  Asfeld  came  to  the  rescue,  and,  taking 
advantage  of  the  anxiety  in  which  he  found  PoUnitz, 
"  hunted  me,  so  to  speak,  from  a  place  where  I  was 
wasting  my  time  and  the  little  money  I  had." 

"  I  must  confess,"  wrote  Madame  at  this  time,  "  that 
I  am  surprised  that  Paris  is  still  on  its  feet,  and  has 
not  been  swallowed  up,  for  everything  here  people  do  is 
so  awful,  night  and  day,  that  it  makes  my  hair  stand 
on  end." 

The  Abbe  was  quite  light.  Paris,  at  this  moment, 
was  no  place  for  PoUnitz  ;  however,  in  sending  his 
protege  away,  he  took  care  that  he  should  remain  under 
the  influence  of  Mother  Church.  Armed  with  the 
Palatine's  introductions,  the  Baron  was  now  to  try  his 
luck  with  the  Emperor. 

In  order  to  avoid  importunate  questions  from  the 
Commandant  of  Toul,  PoUnitz  travelled  by  way  of  Metz. 
Here  he  found  good  company,  rich  parliamentary  people, 
a  large  garrison,  a  hospitable  Commandant  and  pro- 
vincial Governor,  and  would  fain  have  lingered  had  his 
little  affairs  permitted.  So  he  crossed  the  Rhine  at 
Spiers,  and  went  by  Heidelberg  and  Stuttgart  to  Ulm. 
Thence  to  Augsburg,  with  an  adventure  on  the  way. 

"  The  road  was  a  very  bad  one  for  travellers,  but, 
thanks  to  the  snow  which  had  smoothed  the  roads,  I  was 
not  very  uncomfortable.  On  the  other  hand,  I  nearly 
perished  in  the  same  snow,  as  such  a  quantity  had  fallen 
during  the  last  two  days  that  one  could  not  find  the 
way.  On  one  stage  I  found  my  postillion  had  lost  it, 
though  he  had  grown  grey  on  the  same  road.  Every 
moment  I  saw  I  was  in  danger  of  being  upset  in  some 
ditch,  when,  having  reached  the  entrance  of  a  hollow 


206  A  VAGABOND  COUETIEE 

road,  the  postillion  blew  his  horn  in  order  to  make  any 
chaise  that  might  be  coming  towards  us  get  out  of  the 
way. 

"  A  voice  emerged  out  of  the  cutting  shouting  to  the 
postillion  :    '  Is  that  you,  Stephen  ?  ' 

"  '  Ho  !  '  shouted  my  postillion.  '  Is  that  you, 
Christoph  1  God  be  praised  that  you're  here ! '  Then, 
turning  to  me,  very  pleased :  '  Now  you  are  out  of 
danger ;  here  is  a  blind  man  who  will  guide  us  to  the 
post-house  where  we  want  to  go.' 

"  I  thought  the  wag  was  making  fun  of  me ;  but,  a 
few  steps  farther  on,  I  did  see  a  poor  wretch  without 
any  eyes,  who  offered  to  lead  us  safely.  I  gave  myself 
up  to  him  ;  he  walked  so  quickly  in  front  of  my  post- 
chaise  that  the  horses  followed  at  a  slow  trot,  and  led 
me  without  any  mishap  to  the  post-house. 

"  He  told  me  that,  fifteen  years  before,  he  had  lost 
both  his  eyes  through  an  abscess,  which  burst,  after 
causing  him  ten  months'  frightful  suffering ;  so  much  so 
that  he  thought  himself  lucky  to  lose  his  sight.  But 
when  I  asked  him  if  he  was  not  very  grieved  at  losing 
his  sight  he  said  that,  at  first,  it  did  trouble  him  very 
much,  but  that  he  always  comforted  himself  by  re- 
calling the  pain  that  he  had  endured  whilst  losing  it, 
and  said  to  himself  that  it  was  better  to  be  blind  and  well, 
than  to  see  and  suffer  as  he  had  suffered.  Now  that  he 
was  accustomed  to  his  condition,  it  did  not  trouble 
him. 

"  I  asked  him  if  he  would  not  be  very  glad  to  see 
again.  He  told  me  that  he  would,  if  it  were  possible, 
but  that,  if  he  had  to  suffer  the  same  pain  to  recover  it 
as  he  had  endured  in  losing  it,  he  would  a  hundred 
times  rather  remain  blind. 

"When  I  told  him  how  surprised  I  was  that  he  had 
found  the  way  better  than  those  with  sight,  he  told  me 
that,  since  he  had  become  blind,  he  came  regularly  on 
Sundays  and  Festivals  to  hear  mass  at  the  place  where 
we  were,  and  so  the  road  was  very  familiar  to  him.  He 
added  that  he  sometimes  went   alone  to  beg,  three  or 


THE   VAGRANT  207 

four  leagues  from  his  village,  which  was  a  quarter  of  a 
league  from  the  hollow  road  where  I  had  found  him. 

"  I  dismissed  the  man  after  giving  him  some  alms, 
and  admired  Divine  Providence,  Who,  in  afflicting  the 
poor  wretch  with  what  seemed  to  me  worse  than  death, 
gave  him  courage  to  bear  his  misfortune  with  patience." 

At  the  inn  where  Pollnitz  stayed  at  Augsburg,  "  The 
Three  Kings  "  ("  The  Three  Moors  "  ?),  there  was  a  fine 
hall,  well  lighted,  where  there  were  cards — 

"  A  supper  a  picnic,  and  after  supper  a  ball.  ...  It 
should  occasion  no  surprise  that  the  aristocracy  should 
hold  their  Assembly  at  an  inn.  It  is  one  of  the  finest 
houses  in  Germany,  and  the  most  magnificent  inn  in 
Europe  .  .  .  One  could  not  have  been  better  served." 

Munich  Pollnitz  thought  one  of  the  most  brilliant 
Courts  in  Europe.  He  describes  at  length  the  city,  the 
fine  churches,  the  Electoral  Palace,  which  he  thought 
only  surpassed  by  the  Tuileries ;  but  the  gardens,  sur- 
rounded by  a  large  arcade,  "  not  in  the  taste  of  this 
century."  He  describes  the  Orangery,  the  Menagerie, 
with  the  lions,  etc.,  and  one  of  the  finest  riding-schools 
he  had  ever  seen.  The  palace  was  connected  by  a 
gallery  with  the  superb  opera-house,  which  the  Elector 
was  very  fond  of.  Even  in  those  days  the  rulers  of 
Bavaria  were  the  enthusiastic  patrons  of  musical  drama. 
"No  money  spared ;  scenery,  machinery,  dresses,  all 
magnificent  and  well  arranged."  Really  Pollnitz  might 
have  been  writing  a  century  and  a  half  later  !  Specially 
was  he  struck  by  a  chandelier  of  enormous  size  let  down 
through  the  roof  of  the  theatre  at  the  opening  on  gala 
nights,  and  then,  at  once,  drawn  up  again.  He  could 
never  find  out  the  reason  of  this  performance. 

The  Baron  greatly  enjoyed  life  at  the  Court  of  the 
Elector  Maximilian.  His  first  wife  had  been  a  daughter 
of  the  Emperor  Leopold  ;  his  second  of  John  Sobieski. 
She  preferred  a  quiet  life,  and  was  immersed  in  good 


208  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEB 

works.  The  Electoral  Prince  had  served  his  appren- 
ticeship in  war  against  the  Turks.  A  good  linguist, 
and  of  much  charm,  he  had  a  great  social  reputation 
at  Vienna.  Little  did  Pollnitz  think,  as  he  enjoyed 
himself  at  Munich,  with  this  attractive  young  man  as 
leader  in  all  the  amusements,  that  he  should  see  him, 
a  sickly  invalid,  crowned  Emperor,  for  a  short,  unhappy 
reign,  his  country  over-run,  and  his  capital  in  the 
enemy's  hands. 

Charles's  younger  brothers  were  Ferdinand,  very 
handsome,  and  Clement,  Bishop  of  Miinster.  All  three 
were  mighty  hunters. 

Never  had  the  Court  of  Bavaria  been  so  splendid 
as  under  Maximilian ;  it  was  almost  as  ceremonious 
as  that  of  Vienna,  "  the  most  gallant  and  polite  in 
Germany.''  Next  to  music  the  Elector  loved  cards — 
'passe  and  faro,  and  other  games  of  chance.  There  were 
receptions  three  times  a  week,  either  in  the  Electress's 
apartments,  when  ladies  appeared  in  court  dress,  or  in 
the  great  Orangery,  when  they  could  wear  cloaks ;  and 
at  the  card-tables  no  rank  was  observed.  Every  day 
there  were  French  plays,  balls,  and  gambling.  Three 
days  a  week  a  concert,  all  the  company  masked.  After 
the  concert,  dancing  and  cards. 

"  These  public  Assemblies,  where  the  Elector  and  all 
the  Court  are  present,  are  a  great  source  of  revenue 
to  the  valets  de  chambre  of  the  Elector,  for,  besides  the 
entrance  fees,  they  have  also  the  card-money,  and  are 
interested  in  nearly  all  the  banks  to  such  an  extent  that 
these  servants  have  nearly  all  the  money  of  the  nobility, 
with  which  they  are  not  averse  to  making  a  show." 

During  Pollnitz's  stay  he  saw  one  of  the  Elector's 
daughters  take  the  veil,  a  ceremony  of  much  pomp, 
attended  by  all  the  Court. 

"  Besides  these  pleasures  we  have  also  quieter  ones ; 
I  mean  those  which  are  to  be  found  in  good  society. 


THE  VAGEANT  209 

These  exist  here  more  than  in  other  German  towns,  but 
chiefly  among  foreigners  in  the  Elector's  service  rather 
than  among  Bavarians.  The  latter  are  generally  proud ; 
it  is  true  that  they  are  so  more  because  they  think  it 
good  style  than  because  they  are  so  naturally.  They 
become  more  amiable  when  shown  that  one  is  not 
impressed  by  their  grand  airs.'" 

Bavaria  was  "  one  of  the  most  prosperous  States 
of  the  Empire,  and,  next  to  the  King  of  France,  the 
Elector  possessed  the  greatest  number  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful country  houses — Schleissheim,  Taco,  Furstenriet, 
Starnberg,  and  Nymphenburg."  To  the  latter  Pollnitz 
followed  the  Court  when  the  fine  weather  came  on, 
"  an  enchanted  spot,"  which  Maximilian  had  greatly 
enlarged,  adding  stables  and  superb  gardens  and  a 
pavilion  with  baths.  "  After  the  gardens  at  Versailles, 
there  are  none  so  fine  as  Nymphenburg." 

One  of  the  amusements  of  the  Court  when  there  was 
driving  in  light,  open,  pair-horse  chaises,  a  gentleman 
driving,  and  two  ladies  inside,  one  or  two  gentlemen 
standing  behind  them.  Then  there  were  gondola 
parties  on  the  grand  canal  in  the  gardens,  fishing  parties, 
small-game  shooting  in  the  little  park,  and  stag-hunting 
in  the  immense  woods  which  surrounded  it.  Pollnitz 
fancied  himself  "  in  an  enchanted  isle.*' 

During  Pollnitz's  visit  to  Munich  he  found  a  Prince 
he  knew  well  in  Paris  making  a  lengthy  stay  at  the 
Electoral  Court,  on  his  return  fi'om  the  war  against 
the  Turks  in  Hungary.  The  Comte  de  Charolais  was  the 
son  of  the  head  of  the  Conde  branch  of  the  Bourbons, 
the  Due  de  Bourbon,  who  had  died  some  years  before. 
Left  fatherless,  the  hare-brained  Charolais,  who  re- 
sembled his  maternal  grandmother,  the  Montespan,  was 
one  of  the  worst  specimens  of  the  roues  of  the  Regency, 
young  in  years  but  old  in  vice.  In  him  profligacy 
almost  amounted  to  insanity.  His  mad  freaks  were 
unaccountable.  He  had,  however,  shown  some  ability 
during  the  war,  to  which  he  escaped  without  the  know- 

I— 14 


210  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

ledge  of  his  mother  or  the  Regent.  Giving  out  that 
he  was  going  out  hunting  very  early,  and  taking  with 
him  only  two  attendants,  he  galloped  seven  stages 
without  drawing  rein  on  his  brother  the  Duke's  horses, 
and  had  reached  Imperial  Flanders  when  he  was  thought 
to  be  still  at  the  chase  in  the  forest  of  Chantilly.  He 
passed  through  Germany  and  Vienna  without  presenting 
himself  to  the  Emperor,  and  reached  Prince  Eugene 
at  the  siege  of  Belgrade. 

At  Munich  the  Elector  was  entertaining  this  flighty 
guest  in  great  style,  only  servants  who  spoke  French 
being  appointed  to  wait  on  him.     But  the  Prince — 

"  Having  picked  up  German  in  a  very  short  time,  soon 
made  the  peasants  understand  him  better  than  they 
did  me.  .  .  .  One  day,  out  shooting,  he  told  me  to  ask 
a  peasant  something ;  but  he  only  stared.  The  Comte 
laughed  at  me,  and,  asking  the  man  what  he  wished  to 
know,  was  answered  at  once  because  he  spoke  the 
Bavarian  accent  so  well."' 

In  May  the  Baron,  with  many  regrets  and  full  of  grati- 
tude to  the  Elector  and  his  sons,  went  on  his  way  to 
Vienna  by  Passau. 

Here  he  spent  Whit-Sunday — all  the  world  in  its 
best,  the  little  hourgeoise  in  black  velvet  with  scarlet 
petticoats  with  rows  of  gold  braid,  many  beads,  neck- 
laces, and  jewelry.  PoUnitz  took  the  Sacrament  at  the 
Cathedral,  thus,  on  approaching  the  Austrian  frontier, 
demonstrating  his  adhesion  to  his  new  communion, 
an  adhesion  not  likely  to  be  unmarked  at  Vienna, 
"  where  they  loved  converts." 


CHAPTER   XIV 

When  Pollnitz  came  to  Vienna  the  city  had  not  long 
been  restored,  ahnost  rebuilt,  after  the  damage  done 
by  the  Turks  during  the  siege.  The  Imperial  Palace, 
the  Burg,  struck  him  only  by  its  size  and  its  gloom. 
"  A  stranger  who  saw  this  palace  at  Vienna,  not  knowing 
what  it  was,  would  hardly  fancy  it  the  habitation  of 
the  first  Prince  of  Europe."  Nor  did  he  think  La 
Favorite,  in  a  suburb,  any  finer  ;  a  convent-like  building, 
it  stood  on  the  high  road,  and  lacked  even  a  fore-court. 
Schonbrunn  was  still  little  more  than  the  hunting-box 
of  the  Emperor  Matthias,  and  the  improvements  of 
Joseph  I  were  yet  unfinished.  On  the  other  hand,  he 
found  some  of  the  hotels  of  the  aristocracy  very  magnifi- 
cent, especially  that  of  Prince  Eugene,  with  its  fine 
garden  and  rich  library,  the  delight  of  the  owner's 
leisure. 

The  Prater  he  called  "  the  Bois  de  Boulogne  of  Vienna. 
In  the  gardens  of  the  Emperor  lay  the  ruins  of  a  fine 
palace,  burnt  by  the  Turks ;  but  the  garden  was  so  in- 
fested by  an  appalling  cloud  of  insects  from  the  Danube, 
as  to  be  deserted  by  promenaders."' 

A  few  days  after  his  arrival  Pollnitz  was  presented 
to  the  Kaiser,  Charles  VI.  His  Court,  thought  Pollnitz, 
"  the  simplest  and  yet,  at  the  same  time,  the  most 
magnificent  in  Europe  .  .  .  plain,  and  even  lugubrious, 
with  its  black  liveries  with  yellow  and  white  stripes.'* 
But  yet  the  ceremonial,  on  what  were  called  gala  occa- 
sions, appeared  elaborate  and  punctilious  to  an  extreme, 
even  to  one  accustomed  to  the  pomp  of  the  Grand 
Monarque. 

Society  gathered,  after  the  Emperor's  supper,  at  the 

211 


212  A  VAGABOND  COUETIER 

Assembly,  which  was  held  at  Madame  de  Kabutin's. 
There  all  the  heau  monde  was  to  be  seen,  old  Prince 
Eugene  coming  every  evening,  and  playing  piquet  with 
the  Countess  Budiani  and  other  ladies.  It  broke  up 
about  eleven.  Supper-parties  were  the  exception,  for 
the  greater  part  of  the  entertaining  was  at  dinner,  and 
the  dinner-hour  was  extremely  late. 

The  operas  were  well  put  on,  and  connoisseurs  assured 
the  young  Baron,  who  is  always  modest  as  a  musical 
critic,  that  the  music  was  excellent.  "  As  for  me,  I 
found  them  as  dull  as  most  Italian  operas,  because  they 
are  not  accompanied  by  dancing  and  other  amusements." 
Later  in  life  Pollnitz's  taste  altered.  We  find  him 
devoted  to  the  melodious  Italian  opera  of  the  day,  and, 
as  Royal  Impresario,  producing  the  same  at  the  Royal 
Opera-house  at  Berlin;  but  he  always  took  care  to  throw 
in  a  ballet. 

The  Baron  had  a  great  eye  for  punctilio,  which  was 
to  stand  him  later  in  good  stead  ;  he  had  already  a  good 
deal  of  experience  in  court  ceremonial,  and  describes 
that  of  the  Imperial  Court  voluminously. 

"  The  Etiquette — such  is  the  name  given  to  the  ancient 
customs — gives  the  Court  an  air  of  constraint  which  is 
not  seen  anywhere  else.  .  .  .  All  the  world  cries  out 
at  this  etiquette ;  the  Emperor  even  seems  sometimes 
bored  with  it.  Yet  it  is  carried  out  as  if  it  were  a  dogma 
of  faith,  and  as  if  an  CEcumenical  Council  were  neces- 
sary to  repeal  it,  .  .  .  Nevertheless,  a  well-born  stranger 
(birth  is  necessary  here)  finds  a  pleasure  at  this  Court 
which  he  will  not  find  in  Paris  or  London  ;  I  mean  the 
ease  of  making  acquaintances.  When  one  has  paid 
one's  respects  to  Their  Majesties,  an  introduction  to  one 
house  only  is  necessary  in  order  to  be  free  of  all  the 
rest,  with  the  advantage  that  everywhere  German, 
French,  Italian,  and  Spanish  is  spoken,  whereas  a 
stranger  must  perforce  speak  French  in  Paris  and 
English  in  London.  With  German  one  manages  very 
well  at  Vienna.  ...  It  is  very  easy  to  kiss  the  hands 


THE  VAGRANT  213 

of  Their  Imperial  Majesties,  and  even  to  obtain  a  private 
audience/' 

Genuflexions  formed  a  great  part  of  court  etiquette. 

"  One  knelt  to  kiss  hands,  one  knelt  when  Their 
Majesties  passed  to  dinner.  These  genuflexions  were 
necessary  at  a  private  audience,  or  on  approaching  or 
retiring  from  the  Emperor,  who  only  nodded  in  return/* 

There  were  no  less  than  three  Empresses  living  at 
Vienna  during  Pollnitz's  visit — two  Dowagers,  and  the 
Emperor's  wife.  To  each  of  the  three  the  Baron  had 
letters  of  private  recommendation,  which  launched  him 
instantly  at  the  Imperial  Court.  For  the  reigning  Em- 
press was  a  Princess  of  Brunswick- Wolfenblittel,  whose 
grandparents  had  received  him  so  hospitably  at  their 
Court,  whilst,  of  the  Dowagers,  one  was  the  Hanoverian 
Princess,  niece  by  marriage  of  the  Electress  Sophia,  the 
other  a  Princess  Palatine,  sister  of  Pollnitz's  late  bibulous 
host  at  Heidelberg. 

The  wife  of  the  Emperor  Charles  VI  was  "  the  most 
beautiful  person  at  her  Court,"  gorgeous  in  her  dress, 
and  especially  in  her  diamonds,  of  which  she  had  several 
millions'  worth.  "  This  number  increases  daily,  because 
of  the  handsome  presents  the  Emperor  gives  her. 
Charitable,  generous,  of  sound  faith,"  she  was  also  now 
"  a  good  Catholic  without  hating  the  Protestants,  con- 
vinced that  the  love  of  one's  neighbour  is  one  of  the 
things  commanded  by  God  to  man,  and  that  charity 
and  good  example  are  the  best  means  of  bringing  those 
back  to  the  Church  who  are  separated  from  it." 

The  Emperor  was  orthodox  to  bigotry.  Roman 
Catholicism  was  the  only  faith  tolerated  in  his  do- 
minions, but  the  envoys  of  Protestant  Powers  were 
permitted  to  have  their  chapels.  "  I  have  seen," 
writes  Pollnitz,  "  the  Emperor,  when  he  met  the  Host 
(escorted  in  the  street  always  by  the  guards,  who  make 


214  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

the  people  kneel)  descend  from  his  coach  and  follow 
it  to  the  church." 

"  It  was  impossible  to  see  a  more  perfect  union  than 
that  which  existed  between  His  Imperial  Majesty- 
Charles  VI  and  his  wife.  During  her  dangerous  illness 
he  nursed  her  himself,  rising  at  night  to  give  her  medi- 
cine." The  one  cloud  over  their  marriage  was  that 
they  had  but  two  daughters ;  a  third  was  born  after 
Pollnitz's  visit  to  Vienna,  but  never  a  son,  and  hence 
much  trouble  in  Europe. 

The  two  Dowager-Empresses  lived  in  a  perpetual 
state  of  mourning  ;  their  apartments  were  hung  with 
black,  black  their  dresses,  their  liveries,  their  coaches. 
They  could  attend  no  plays,  balls,  or  concerts.  Their 
seclusion  was  almost  as  great  as  that  of  an  Indian 
widow.  "  In  losing  their  husbands  they  had  to  give  up 
all  the  amusements  of  life."  The  Empress  Wilhelmina 
wintered  in  a  convent  in  Vienna  and  spent  the  summer 
at  Schonbrunn.  "  Her  girlhood  had  been  spent  at  the 
Courts  of  Versailles  and  Modena.  She  was  a  good 
linguist,  of  fine  appearance,  a  great  reader,  and  well 
endowed  with  intellect.  During  her  husband's  life-time 
she  had  loved  amusement,  but  now,  though  still  well- 
preserved  and  dignified,  she  was  entirely  occupied  with 
religious  observances  and  in  good  works." 

Herself  a  convert  from  the  Reformed  Faith,  she  was 
interested  in  Pollnitz,  who  often  paid  his  respects  to  her 
at  Schonbrunn.  She  was  very  kind  to  him,  giving  him 
"  substantial  favours,"  which  he  sorely  needed,  and 
he  was  "  very  grateful  to  her,  and  I  could  not  look  at 
her  without  feeling  the  profound  veneration  I  had  for 
her  sacred  person." 

Charles  VI,  short,  very  stout,  sunburnt  and  ruddy, 
with  his  bright  eyes  and  Austrian  lower  lip,  the  Baron 
found,  upon  closer  acquaintance,  more  affable  and 
benign  than  his  grave  appearance  would  lead  one  to 
suppose.  He  loved  hunting,  and  the  Empress  some- 
times accompanied  him.  Sometimes  they  rode  to- 
gether in  the  riding-school.     The  Emperor  loved  music. 


THE  VAGRANT  215 

reading  it  easily  at  sight,  and  was  also  a  composer.  An 
opera  he  had  written  had  been  performed  by  some  of 
the  nobility,  the  Empress  playing  the  accompaniments 
and  their  two  daughters  dancing,  while  a  small  and 
select  audience  looked  on,  including,  one  is  glad  to  note, 
the  much-secluded  Dowagers. 

A  grand  j&gure  in  Viennese  society  was  Prince 
Eugene,  covered  with  glory  and  wealth.  Polite  to  all, 
he  was  yet  cold  and  reserved ;  but  he  entertained 
munificently.  Especially  splendid  were  his  evening 
parties  in  the  summer-time,  when  his  beautiful  garden 
and  orangery  were  brilliantly  illuminated,  and  his  fine 
menagerie  on  view.  Personally  the  great  little  general 
was  ill  dressed,  and  hated  pomp,  ceremonial,  and  re- 
straint. 

After  his  audience  with  the  Emperor  and  the  Imperial 
family,  Pollnitz  was  presented  to  all  the  ministers — 

"  And  thus,  in  a  short  time,  I  knew  all  the  Court. 
I  was  lucky  enough  to  make  influential  friends  there, 
who  did  not  wait  for  me  to  pay  them  assiduous  atten- 
tions before  giving  me  marks  of  their  good-will.  They 
begged  Prince  Eugene  to  employ  me.  I  had  the  honour 
of  saluting  him,  and  of  presenting  the  letters  of  recom- 
mendation which  the  Elector  Palatine  had  given  me 
for  him.  The  Prince  received  me  with  much  kindness, 
but  said  that  he  could  not  promise  to  find  me  a  post, 
because  the  colonels  disposed  of  all  the  commissions  in 
the  regiments ;  but  added  that  he  would  be  pleased  to 
do  all  in  his  power  for  me. 

"  Indeed,  shortly  afterwards  he  kindly  spoke  of 
me  to  Count  Maximilian  von  Stahrenberg  (lieutenant- 
general  of  the  Imperial  Army,  colonel  of  an  infantry 
regiment,  and  Deputy  Governor  of  Vienna),  who  gave 
me  a  company  in  his  regiment,  which  was  in  Sicily. 

"  With  this  present  I  was  delighted,  and  I  fancied 
that  luck  was  weary  of  always  being  against  me.  Never- 
theless, after  the  first  feelings  of  delight,  I  made  some 
serious  cogitations,  which  threw  me  back  into  my  old 


216  A  VAGABOND  COUBTIEB 

despondency.  I  had  no  friends,  and  I  foresaw  that 
I  should  have  to  make  a  considerable  outlay.  Besides, 
I  had  some  little  debts  which  I  would  have  liked  to 
pay  off  before  leaving  Vienna  ;  it  was  necessary  to  do 
up  my  travelling  carriage,  which  was  somewhat  delapi- 
dated  ;  finally,  I  must  journey  to  Sicily, — all  of  which 
meant  much  expense. 

"  It  was  at  this  juncture  that  I  received  fresh  marks 
of  my  friends^  attachment  to  me ;  each  one  interested 
themselves  efficaciously  on  my  behalf.  Fraulein  von 
Klenck  had  been  with  the  Dowager-Empress  Wil- 
helmina  as  maid  of  honour  ever  since  she  came  to 
Vienna,  and  was  very  much  attached  to  her.  ...  If 
the  epithet  of  '  good  fellow  '  may  be  applied  to  the  sex, 
Fraulein  von  Klenck  deserves  it  more  than  any  one 
else  ;  no  one  can  be  more  upright  or  more  liberal.  .  .  . 
She   obtained   for   me   a   present   from   Her   Imperial 

Majesty.     The  Countess  of  W ,  to  whose  reception 

I  went  daily,  made  me  an  advance  of  a  thousand  ducats, 
telling  me  that  I  might  pay  her  back  whenever  I  could, 
or,  rather,  when  I  was  a  lieutenant-general !  She 
accompanied  this  most  generous  gift  with  such  a  wise 
and  Christian  speech  that  it  seemed  to  emanate  more 
from  a  mother  than  a  friend.  This  lady  had  been 
much  touched  by  my  change  of  faith,  and  she  helped 
me  all  the  more  readily  to  wind  up  my  affairs  because 
she  feared  that  I  might  succumb  to  the  temptation  of 
turning  Protestant  again  in  order  to  obtain  employment 
in  my  own  country.'' 

Pollnitz  criticizes  shrewdly  the  women  of  Vienna,  in 
court  society  and  in  the  lower  ranks,  his  opinions  the 
result  of  his  present  stay  in  the  Imperial  capital,  and 
of  subsequent  visits. 

"  They  are  tall  and  well-made,  walking  well,  but 
bowing  so  badly  that  you  would  say  they  were  going  to 
injure  themselves  internally  when  they  make  a  curtsy."' 
Though  they  dressed  with  more  magnificence  than 
taste,  they  hardly  wore  rouge,  much  less  white ;  patches 


THE  VAGEANT  217 

were  not  in  fashion,  and  they  were  not  coquettes. 
"  Frank,  but  not  easy  to  make  friends  with,  cold,  as 
are  all  Germans,  they  are  less  prone  to  gallantry  than 
to  gambling,  luxury,  and  extravagance/'  Neglectful 
house- wives,  they  know  of — 

"  No  book  save  their  prayer-books,  and  are  extremely 
punctilious  in  church-going  and  in  religious  obser- 
vances. The  least  devout  hear  mass  at  least  once  a 
day.  After  mass  there  is  a  little  gossip  in  church; 
calls  till  dinner-time  ;  coffee  ;  playing  at  quinze  till 
evening  ;  then  to  Court ;  after  that  the  Assembly,  and 
piquet  or  quadrille.  Then  to  bed,  quite  satisfied  with 
a  day  spent  in  nonchalance  and  indolence. 

"  They  are  as  devoted  to  Vienna  as  the  Parisians 
to  Paris.  '  Away  from  Vienna,  no  salvation  !  '  When 
interested  in  any  one  they  are  good  friends,  and  faith- 
ful. .  .  .  Gallantry  was  more  the  fashion  under  the  late 
Emperor  Joseph  than  it  is  to-day, '^  probably  owing  to 
the  excellent  example  of  conjugal  fidelity  set  by  the 
Imperial  pair. 

Among  people  of  the  second  rank  Pollnitz  found 
very  good  living,  the  Austrians  setting  great  store  by 
a  good  table.  Such  abundance  pertained  that  Pollnitz 
had  known  Austrian  youth — 

"  Declare  that  one  did  not  fare  well  in  Paris,  because 
two  calves'  tongues  are  not  served  in  one  dish.  ...  A 
great  expense  is  the  many  varieties  of  wines,  for  foreign 
wines  are  dear.  You  must  have  ten  kinds  at  least ;  I 
have  been  at  houses  where  there  were  eighteen.  A 
slip  of  paper  is  placed  under  every  plate,  on  which  is 
written  the  different  wines  on  the  buffet." 

Austrian  pride  struck  Pollnitz  very  much. 

"  As  their  sovereign  holds  the  first  rank  among  the 
Princes  of  Christendom,  so  they  think  themselves  also 
the  first  nation  in  the  world.  .  .  .  Nothing  is  more  con- 


218  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

ceited  or  more  insupportable  than  a  young  Austrian 
whose  father  has  an  appointment  at  Court ;  they  are 
inebriated  with  pride  and  presumption,  and,  as  they 
feel  they  are  rich,  and  their  fathers  great  personages, 
they  imagine  that  they  can  despise  every  one,  and  neglect 
polite  and  good  manners,  which  would  be  in  keeping 
with  their  birth.  ...  A  craving  of  the  Austrian  gentry 
of  all  the  Hereditary  States  of  the  Emperor  is  to  bear 
the  title  of  Count.  Gentlemen  buy  it,  and  beg  for  it 
as  a  great  favour.  .  .  .  Gentlemen,  by  the  by,  are 
so  common  that  one  never  meets  any  one  else  .  .  .  the 
late  courier  of  the  Emperor  Joseph  bought  the  title  of 
Baron,  and  his  children  are  beginning  to  mingle  in  the 
grand  monde." 

Upon  the  Emperor's  return  from  the  war  in  Spain, 
many  Spaniards  who  had  attached  themselves  to  him 
at  Barcelona  came  with  him,  and  he  loaded  them  with 
marks  of  gratitude  for  their  late  services. 

Pollnitz's  insatiable  love  of  pleasure  and  excitement 
was  again  to  work  him  ill.  Though  now  equipped  with 
the  means  to  take  up  his  post  in  Sicily,  he  lingered  in 
Vienna  to  see  two  great  spectacles,  the  arrival  of  the 
Tm'kish  ambassador  and  the  marriage  of  the  Emperor's 
niece,  daughter  of  the  late  Emperor  Joseph,  with  the 
Electoral  Prince  of  Saxony. 

"  The  Turkish  Court  was  not  very  much  "  ;  there  was 
a  certain  oriental  magnificence  of  tents  and  drapery, 
and  of  fine  men,  but  the  escort  was  ill  dressed  and  the 
carriages  shabby.  The  camp  where  the  ambassador 
stayed  was  ten  miles  outside  the  city  ;  it  was  all  in 
confusion,  camels,  horses,  oxen,  all  pell-mell,  servants 
dirty  and  half-dressed.  Pollnitz  and  some  friends  "  drove 
out  to  the  camp  .  .  .  sat  on  crimson  satin  and  gold- 
embroidered  cushions  and  fine  carpets,  and  were  given 
coffee  and  jam." 

The  ambassador  and  his  suite,  with  horse-tail 
standards,  defiled  in  procession  solemnly  through  the 
city,   and  the  Emperor  and  Empress  watched  them 


THE  VAGRANT  219 

from  La  Favorite  palace.  They  lodged  at  a  house  in 
the  suburbs,  "  for,  according  to  a  custom  easily  ex- 
plained, no  Turkish  ambassador  ever  stays  in  Vienna." 

The  Turks  flooded  the  wine-shops  during  their 
ambassador's  stay,  every  day  creating  disturbances  and 
giving  the  inhabitants  unpleasant  surprises.  Pollnitz, 
one  morning,  watched  one  enter  St.  Stephen's  Cathedral. 
Mass  was  over,  and  he  wandered  aimlessly  about, 
noticing  everything.  Especially  was  he  struck  by  a 
fine  lamp  over  the  middle  of  the  choir.  Finally  he 
pulled  it  down  by  its  rope,  took  a  long  pipe  out  of  his 
pocket,  and  lit  it  at  the  sacred  lamp,  which  he  again 
pulled  back  into  place  ! 

Much  more  to  the  Baron's  liking  was  the  Imperial 
wedding.  He  describes  every  detail  of  the  ceremonies, 
from  the  entry  of  the  Saxon  and  Polish  ambassadors, 
to  ask  for  the  Archduchess's  hand,  the  Princess's  re- 
nunciation of  the  succession,  to  the  arrival  of  the  bride- 
groom, his  meeting  with  the  Empress  and  the  bride  at 
a  convent,  to  the  great  marriage  solemnity  itself,  in  the 
court  chapel,  followed  by  a  state  banquet.  The  next 
evening  there  was  a  gala  performance  of  a  new  opera, 
which  Pollnitz  thought  "  very  dull,  too  long,  and,  besides, 
it  was  awfully  hot."  Then  another  state  banquet,  and 
the  departure  of  the  bridal  pair  for  Dresden. 

Whither  Pollnitz  must  foolishly  follow  them  !  He 
had  not  had  enough  of  spectacles — he  never  had ! 
Moreover,  soldiering  in  Sicily  means  exile  from  court 
life  of  any  description.     He  must  have  a  final  "  fling." 

"  When  the  Princess  had  gone,  I  thought  of  the  long 
journey  before  me  to  join  my  regiment  in  Sicily,  and, 
as  it  would  naturally  take  me  away  from  my  native 
land,  I  wished  first  to  settle  my  affairs.  So  I  asked  for 
a  month's  leave,  and  went  to  Dresden,  ordering  my 
man  of  business  to  meet  me  there.  I  preferred  to  stay 
at  Dresden  rather  than  Berlin,  not  only  on  account  of 
the  arrival  of  the  Princess,  which  I  was  very  glad  to 
see,   but  because  my  enemies  at  the  Prussian  Court 


220  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

might  have  set  some  wheels  in  motion  to  make  mischief 
with  the  King  about  me." 

Polhiitz  reached  Dresden  the  same  day  as  the  bridal 
pair,  who  had  come  down  the  Elbe  in  a  magnificently 
appointed  gondola,  modelled  on  the  Bucentaure  of 
Venice.  He  gives  a  minute  account  of  the  receptions, 
processions,  fetes,  balls,  wild-beast  fights,  operas,  plays, 
banquets,  etc.,  with  which  Augustus  was  delighted  to 
welcome  an  Emperor's  daughter  as  his  son's  bride, 
surpassing  himself  in  the  magnificent  entertainments 
he  was  such  an  adept  at  arranging. 

When  all  was  over  PoUnitz  was  obliged  to  hurry 
away  to  Munich  to  place  himself  in  the  hands  of  a  surgeon 
for  the  old  trouble.  The  Elector's  own  doctor  treated 
him,  but  Polhiitz  hardly  took  care  of  himself.  He  went 
out  hunting  with  the  Princes  and  the  Comte  de  Charolais, 
who  was  still  lingering  at  Maximilian's  Court. 

These  four  young  men  made  up  a  party  to  go  and  see 
a  new  Italian  opera  which  the  Archbishop  of  Salzburg 
was  producing  on  his  birthday.  The  two  Princes 
went  on  ahead,  and  put  up  at  a  poor  inn  in  the  suburbs, 
because  they  wished  to  be  incognito.  Charolais  and 
PoUnitz  left  at  eight  o'clock  at  night,  with  only  one 
gentleman.  Driving  all  night,  they  reached  Salzburg 
the  following  evening  and  got  down  at  the  same  inn. 
At  once  they  went  to  the  opera,  which  had  already  begun. 

For  this  Polhiitz  was  sorry — 

"  For  it  deserved  to  be  seen  as  a  whole.  Never  have 
I  seen  anything  so  extraordinary  :  theatre,  actors,  play, 
all  supremely  comic.  The  hall  was  crammed,  and  the 
actors'  heads  nearly  touched  the  ceiling.  .  .  .  What 
amused  me  the  most  was  the  entr'actes,  played  by  the 
Archbishop's  pages.  The  first  was  of  shepherds.  One 
recognized  them  by  their  dress ;  they  carried  crooks, 
and,  from  time  to  time,  sheep  appeared  upon  the  stage. 
The  next  was  of  hunters  ;  they  had  hunting-horns,  and, 
while  some  danced,  others,  with  machinery,  made 
hare-skins  stuffed  with  straw  skip  about.     The  third 


THE  VAGRANT  221 

was  of  fishermen,  who  carried  long  lines  to  which  trout 
were  fastened  ;  others  carried  nets  full  of  live  fish  .  .  . 
a  unique  performance,  .  .  .  Meanwhile,  large  goblets  of 
wine  or  beer  were  handed  round.  The  Princes  were 
much  amused  by  this  piece,  and  for  a  long  time  could 
not  forget  the  Archiepiscopal  play.  As  for  me,  I  cannot 
think  of  it  without  laughing.'' 

Despite  their  incognito,  the  arrival  of  the  Princes  was 
made  known  to  the  Archbishop,  who  sent  to  invite  them 
to  supper.  Charolais  declined,  and  so  the  others  did  not 
like  to  accept,  which  grieved  Pollnitz,  "  f or  a  look  round 
the  wretched  inn  where  w^e  were  did  not  promise  much, 
and  I  should  have  been  delighted  to  go  to  the  Arch- 
bishop's.'" 

However,  they  paid  a  short,  informal  visit  to  the  great 
ecclesiastical  Prince  in  his  huge  and  splendid  palace, 
which  took  thirty-two  years  in  building,  full  of  beautiful 
marble  halls  with  superb  rock-crystal  chandeliers  and 
lustres,  rich  furniture,  fine  damasks,  plate,  pictures, 
portraits,  bronzes.  The  stables,  finer  than  those  of 
Versailles,  held  a  hundred  and  fifty  horses,  and  there  was 
a  riding-school,  quite  unique,  cut  out  of  the  solid  rock 
upon  which  Salzburg  is  built ;  it  had  two  tiers  of  boxes 
for  spectators,  like  a  Roman  amphitheatre. 

Then  back,  starving,  to  the  inn,  for  Charolais  and 
Pollnitz  had  tasted  nothing  for  twenty-four  hours. 
"  A  dish  of  crabs,  an  ill-cooked  hare,  sent  back  to  be 
made  into  a  ragout — and  even  that  the  cook  did  not 
seem  to  be  able  to  manage — two  ducks,  and  four  thrushes, 
completed  the  frugal  repast,  which,  however,  lasted  far 
into  the  night." 

Then  the  Princes  went  to  bed,  but  Charolais  and 
Pollnitz  started  back  for  Munich  at  once,  going  round 
by  Alt  Ottringen  to  see  the  treasures  in  the  miraculous 
Chapel  of  the  Virgin  there.  "  We  could  boast  of  having 
travelled  three  days  and  three  nights,  and  of  having 
done  forty  German  leagues  to  see  the  most  wretched 
opera  that  can  be  imagined." 


222  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

Needless  to  say  that  this  wild  goose  chase  did  Pollnitz 
a  great  deal  of  harm.  We  are  not  surprised,  after  this 
escapade,  to  hear  that  the  Munich  surgeons  declined  to 
treat  him  any  longer,  and  his  friends  advised  him  to 
go  to  Paris  to  La  Peronie. 

Pollnitz  was  far  from  anxious  to  do  this.  He  feared 
that  if  he  delayed  any  longer  to  join  his  regiment  he 
should  get  into  trouble.  But  he  was  so  ill  that  he  de- 
cided to  go  to  Paris,  writing,  however,  to  Count  Stahren- 
berg,  and  promising  to  stay  at  Paris  no  longer  than  was 
necessary  for  his  cure.  "  I  do  not  know  if  my  reasons 
appealed  to  him,  for  I  received  no  reply." 


CHAPTER   XV 

"  For  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  started  on  the  journey 
to  Paris  with  regret/' 

Pollnitz  no  longer  cared  for  the  gay  city  which  had 
once  so  enchanted  him ;  "  the  failure  of  all  my  schemes 
had  disgusted  me  with  it." 

The  surgeon,  La  Peronie,  however,  set  him  right  in  a 
month.  "  My  friends  came  to  keep  me  company 
whilst  I  was  laid  up,  and  from  them  I  heard  astounding 
news,  of  which,  indeed,  I  had  been  informed  by  letter, 
but  which  I  could  hardly  believe."' 

The  craze  for  speculation,  the  greatest,  maddest,  the 
world  has  ever  seen,  had  reached  its  zenith.  "  It  is  an 
incredible  thing,"  writes  Madame,  "  the  immense  wealth 
now  in  France.  People  only  talk  in  millions.  I  do  not 
know  anything  about  it,  but  I  see  that  the  god  Mammon 
reigns  despotically  in  Paris." 

Pollnitz  sings  of  the  great  god  Law,  and  the  frenzy 
his  system  had  excited. 

BREVET 

DE   CONTROLEUR    GENERAL    DES   FINANCES 

Pour  le  Sr.  Jean  Law 

De  par  le  Dieu  Porte-marotte, 
Nous  G6n6ral  de  la  Calotte, 
Attendu  que  le  Regiment 
Est  oblig6  sensiblement 
Au  Sr.  Law  de  qui  la  science 
Et  conduit©  dans  la  Finance 
Nous  a  donn6  maints  Calotins, 
En  inventant  les  Bulletins, 
Autrement  dits  Billets  de  Banque, 
Pour  servir  au  jeu  de  la  Blanque, 
Jeu  non  renouvell6  des  Grecs, 

223 


224  A  VAGABOND  COUKTIER 

Comme  le  fade  jeu  de  TOye, 
Mais  imagiii6  tout  expres 
Pour  exciter  riiomme  a  la  joie  ; 
Temoins  les  plaisans  vivement, 
Et  coiitinuels  changemens 
Que  Ton  a  vu  dans  le  Royaume, 
De  Quinquempoix  et  de  Vend6me, 
Et  Prinoipaut6  de  Soissons. 

OtL  PAchat  et  le  Dividende 
Causoient  une  rumeur  si  grande, 
Qu'on  ne  vit  jamais  tant  de  rats 
Obs6der  gens  de  totis  etats  ; 
Mari,  femme,  gargon,  et  fille, 
Laquais,  servante,  la  famille, 
En  un  mot,  sans  rien  exceptor 
Venoit  jouer  et  blanqueter, 
Et  s'y  portoit  de  telle  sorte, 
Qu'il  falloit  Gardes  a  la  porte 
Pour  renvoyer  chacun  chez  soi, 
Apr  6s  les  trois  coups  de  Beffroi, 
La  de  tout  Pays  et  Provinces, 
Marchants,  Magistrats,  Artisans, 
Pr^lats,  Guerriers,  et  Courtisans, 
Dues  et  Pairs,  et  meme  des  Princes, 
Nom  du  Pays,  mais  bien  forains, 
Accouroient  comme  des  Essains, 
Malgre  vent,  grele,  pluys  et  crotte, 
Pour  y  jouer  a  la  marotte. 
En  beaux  et  bons  deniers  comptant, 
Contre  des  valeurs  calotines, 
Dont  la  France  et  Terres  voisines 
Se  pourront  souvenir  long-tems. 
A  ces  causes,  vu  I'abondance 
Des  Calotins  qui  sont  en  France 
De  tous  rangs  et  de  tous  etats, 
Par  le  moyen  dudis  Sieur  Las, 
Nous  lui  confions  nos  Finances. 
Voulons  que  sur  ses  Ordonnances 
Nos  Fonds  soient  oeconomissez, 
Augmentez  et  realisez  ; 
Afin  que  selon  son  merite 
Chacun  ait  part,  grosse  ou  petite, 
Dans  nos  immenses  Revenus, 
Tant  de  gros  Fonds  que  des  menus. 
Or  comme  un  pareil  Ministere 
Est  fort  6tendu  dans  sa  sphere, 
Lui  donnons  pour  premier  Commis, 
Nom  par,  qui,  des  moins  endormis, 
Connoit  la  manoeuvre  diverse 
De  la  Finance  et  du  Commerce. 
Lui  donnons  pour  profits  et  Droits, 


d    8 
>  < 


H     2 


THE  VAGRANT  225 

Pensions,  Gages  et  Salaires, 
Le  quart  de  tous  les  angles  droits 
Que  couperont  les  Commissaires 
Au  papier  qui  sera  vise, 
Et  duquel  un  homme  avise 
II  a  si  bien  grossi  le  nombre. 
Que  la  France  y  seroit  a  I'ombre, 
Si  tous  les  Billets  rassemblez, 
Et  les  uns  aux  autres  cellez 
On  en  pouvoit  faire  una  Tente  ; 
Au  surplus  de  la-dite  rente 
Lui  donnons  notre  grand  Cordon, 
Passant  de  la  droite  a  la  gauche, 
Ainsi  qu'une  legere  ebauche 
De  sa  droiture,  dont  le  fond 
Va  si  loin,  que  Terrasson  meme 
Grand  Calculateur  du  systeme, 
Ne  pourroit  pas  le  mesurer. 
En  outre,  pour  mieux  honorer 
Le  Chef  de  ce  grand  Personage 

Qui  fit  bouquer  tout  homme  sage, 
En  soit  disant  docte  et  profound 
Lui  donnons  calotte  de  plomb, 
De  la  haute  et  premiere  classe  ; 
Et  pour  surcroit  de  telle  grace, 
Joignons  a  ces  Coqs  dont  la  voix 
Chanta  la  justice  aux  Fran9ais, 

Papillons,  Rats  et  Girouettes, 

Hannetons,  grelots  et  sonnettes. 

En  mgmoire  d'un  si  beau  chant, 

Qu'au  sortir  de  France  on  public 

Qu'il  va  chanter  en  Italie, 

Ou  sans  doute  il  aura  beau  champ 

Pour  exercer  son  grand  genie, 

Et  connoissance  infinie 

Dans  I'art  d'ecupler  les  Fonds 

Par  Billets  payable  a  vue, 

Desquels  aujourd'hui  nous  voyons 

En  France  une  si  bonne  issue. 

Ordonnons  a  tous  les  Pays 

De  notre  vaste  dependance, 

De  I'ecouter  dans  ses  avis, 

Surtout  dans  I'Art  de  la  Finance  ; 

Art  qu'il  possede  eminemment, 

Fait  au  Conseil  du  Regiment. 

"  There  was  no  longer  in  Paris,"  writes  a  contempor- 
ary, "  either  business  or  society.  The  artisan  in  his  shop, 
the  merchant  in  his  counting-house,  the  magistrate  and 
the  Hterary  man  in  his  study,  were  occupied  only  with 

1-15 


226  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

the  price  of  shares.  The  news  of  the  day  was  their 
rise  and  fall.  People  asked  what  it  was  before  bowing 
to  each  other.  There  was  no  other  conversation  in 
the  clubs,  and  the  game  of  shares  had  replaced  every 
other.  .  .  .  Like  gamblers,  people  were  merciless  and 
cruel.  One  who  had  just  been  ruined  by  a  fall  did  not 
hesitate  to  cut  his  friend's  throat  by  suggesting  to  him, 
before  he  was  aware  of  their  fall,  to  take  some  shares. 
There  were  suicides,  murders,  and  all  the  crimes  which 
cupidity  and  despair  can  produce." 

The  Eue  Quincampoix  was  "  the  hub  of  the  universe. 
It  was  enough  to  get  near  that  happy  street  in  order  to 
make  one's  fortune."'  It  was  almost  unapproachable ; 
the  offices  of  the  Mississippi  Company  were  in  a  state 
of  siege.  The  Duke  of  Bourbon,  his  mother,  and  the 
Prince  of  Conti,  whose  gains  amounted  to  millions, 
"  do  not  stir  from  the  Kue  Quincampoix,"  writes 
Madame. 

About  the  Prince  an  epigram  ran  over  Paris  : 

"  Prince,  dites-nous  vos  exploits. 
Que  faites-vous  pour  votre  gloire  ? 
Taisez-vous,  sots  !    Lisez  I'histoire, 
De  la  Rue  Quincampoix." 

Lord  Stair,  the  English  ambassador,  abused  Law  and 
his  system,  but  made  thousands  of  pounds  out  of  it. 
The  Due  d'Antin,  one  of  Louis  XIV's  legitimized  Princes, 
gained  the  most  of  all  the  royalties,  but  Saint-Simon  says 
he  cheated. 

Madame  writes  that  her  son  was  seeking  a  Duchess 
"  to  accompany  his  daughter,  bride  of  the  Prince  of 
Modena,  to  Genoa.  Some  one  who  happened  to  be  pre- 
sent said  to  him  :  *  If  you  desire  to  have  a  choice  of 
Duchesses,  Monsieur,  why  not  go  to  Law's  ?  You  will 
find  them  there  all  assembled  together.'  " 

As  it  was  impossible  to  get  into  the  offices  of  the 
Company — 


THE  VAGRANT  227 

"A  hunchback,  whose  hump  formed  a  gentle  slope, 
hired  it  out  as  a  desk  for  people  to  sign  their  names  on, 
and  in  a  short  time  made  fifty  thousand  crowns.  .  .  . 
It  would  be  difficult  to  describe  the  kind  of  frenzy  which 
seized  people's  minds  at  the  sight  of  the  fortunes  made 
with  as  great  a  rapidity  as  they  were  enormous.  One 
who  had  begun  with  one  Billet  d'Etat,  by  means  of  ex- 
changes for  money,  for  shares,  for  other  billets,  in  a  few 
weeks  found  himself  with  millions.  The  Rue  Quin- 
campoix,  a  long  and  narrow  street,  was  the  rendezvous 
of  the  shareholders  and  the  scene  of  their  mania.  On 
Monday  one  saw  servants  arrive  behind  their  master's 
coach,  and  on  Saturday  return  inside  it.  The  crowd  was 
so  great  that  many  persons  were  stifled. 

The  air  was  full  of  lampoons  and  verses  over  these 
lightening-made  fortunes. 

"  Lundi  je  pris  des  actions, 
Mardi  je  gagnai  des  millions, 
Mercredi  je  pris  equipage, 
Jeudi  j'arrangai  mon  menage, 
Vendredi  je  m'en  fus  au  bal, 
Et  Samedi  a  I'hopital." 

"  Depuis  qu'un  Juif  venu  d'Ecosse, 
S'est  enrichi  de  notre  argent ; 
Tous  les  gredins  roulent  carosse, 
Et  qui  fut  riche  est  indigent." 

*'  The  population  has  diminished  lately  in  Paris/' 
wrote  Madame,  m  February  1720.  "  The  high  prices 
have  caused  many  to  leave.  Gold  and  silver  are  worth 
nothing,  notes  and  tenpenny  coins  are  the  only  things 
accepted.  I  am  thoroughly  tired  of  hearing  millions, 
shares,  business,  subscriptions,  talked  of  round  me. 
Every  one  in  France  is  fearfully  grasping,  with  the 
exception  of  my  son  ...  all  the  others,  especially  the 
Princes  and  Princesses  of  the  Blood,  are  frightfully  self- 
interested.  They  even  fought  hand  to  hand  with  the 
clerks  belonging  to  the  Bank  of  France.  There  is  a 
saying  that  money  rules  the  world  ;  this  is  certainly  true 
of  this  place." 


228  A    VAGABOND  COURTIER 

"  People  no  longer  talk  except  in  millions,"  chronicles 
Pollnitz.  "  Some  one  who  is  a  lackey  to-day  finds 
himself  a  great  lord  on  the  morrow.  It  is  enough  merely 
to  show  oneself  in  the  celebrated  Rue  Quincampoix  in 
order  to  be  favourably  looked  upon  by  the  tutelary 
Divinity,  and  you  do  not  leave  without  immense  wealth." 

Of  course  the  Baron  was  badly  bitten  by  the  pre- 
vaihng  craze. 

"  I  was  advised  to  do  as  the  rest  did,  and  to  see  if 
luck  would  be  always  against  me.  I  was  told  by  name 
of  a  number  of  people  who  really  possessed  millions  now, 
and  who  had  come  to  the  Rue  without  anything.  This 
was  exactly  my  case.  The  hope  of  success  tempted  me 
to  try  my  luck,  directly  I  was  well  enough  to  go  out. 

"  I  put  in  an  appearance,  and  joined  the  ranks  of  the 
votaries  of  chance.  I  began  excellently,  and,  without 
exactly  knowing  how  it  happened,  I  found  myself  in  a 
little  while  with  a  large  sum.  I  dare  not  tell  you  how 
much  it  amounted  to,  for  I  must  have  been  mad  not  to 
be  satisfied  with  it.     But,  anyhow,  I  began  well ! 

"  I  should  have  thought  it  cowardly  not  to  increase 
my  shares.  So  I  went  on  in  my  usual  way,  but  soon 
felt  that  I  had  made  a  grievous  mistake  in  not  with- 
drawing ;  my  millions  gradually  disappeared  in  the  same 
way  that  they  had  come ;  that  is  to  say,  without  my 
knowing  the  why  or  the  wherefore,  and  I  found  myself 
empty-handed.  Evidently  it  was  compulsory  to  me  to 
abandon  finance." 

So,  directly  he  felt  himself  able  to  travel,  Pollnitz 
left  Paris  to  go  to  Sicily.  Not  well  enough  to  post, 
he  went  by  easy  stages  to  Dijon. 

"  The  desire  to  drink  good  wine  had  brought  me  down 
the  road  by  Dijon,  instead  of  the  high  road  to  Lyons  by 
Tarare.  My  greediness  was  rewarded  as  it  deserved. 
I  was  taken  in,  and  I  have  not  had  a  good  glass  of  win^ 


THE  VAGRANT  229 

in  any  inn  on  my  road,  which  otherwise  has  been  pleasant 
enough/' 

The  ancient  capital  of  Burgundy,  of  which  the  Due 
de  Bourbon,  M.  le  Due,  was  Governor,  Pollnitz  found 
dull : 

"  I  have  seen  many  smaller  towns  gayer  and  pleasanter. 
There  was  a  public  concert,  to  which  I  went  7nalgre 
moi ;  I  had  a  feeling  that  it  would  be  none  of  the  best, 
and  I  was  only  too  right.  The  hall  was  splendid  and 
the  company  large  and  good,  and  the  concert  would 
have  been  very  good,  too,  had  there  been  any  musicians. 
One  might  call  it  a  notable  charivari." 

Rameau  and  Lully  in  Paris,  had  made  Pollnitz 
critical. 

Pollnitz  was  pointed  out  the  prison  of  the  Duchess 
of  Maine.  Fallen  from  her  proud  position,  "  the  little 
devil  of  a  dwarf,"  as  Madame,  exasperated  over  the 
plot  against  her  son,  called  her,  was  "  reduced,"  says 
the  Baron,  "  to  live  in  a  vilain  chateau,  her  only  company 
her  waiting- women."  What  a  change  from  the  hilarious 
delights  of  the  nuits  blanches  at  Sceaux,  her  entertain- 
ments which  Pollnitz  had  so  often  enjoyed ! 

Through  the  luxuriant  vineyards  of  Burgundy 
Pollnitz  drove  to  Chalons.  Here  he  found  a  diligence 
for  Lyons,  along  "  as  beautiful  a  road  as  one  could 
see,  running  on  the  banks  of  the  Saone,  with  views  as 
charming  and  diversified  as  one  can  imagine." 

On  reaching  Lyons  Pollnitz,  in  the  absence  of  the 
Governor,  the  Due  de  Villeroi,  was  taken  to  the  Provost 
of  the  Merchants,  who  was  next  in  authority — 

*'  Not  because  he  is  particularly  gracious  to  strangers 
who  arrive  by  post.  One  is  taken  to  his  quarters  and 
examined  as  if  one  was  on  the  stool  of  repentance.  I 
was  obliged  to  conform  to  this  custom,  and  he  made  me 
wait  a  long  time  in  an  anteroom  filled  with  all  sorts  of 


230  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

people  ;  at  last  he  made  his  appearance,  with  an  air  of 
authority  to  which  he  was  not  born.  The  questions 
he  put  me  and  my  replies  were  most  laconic,  and  I 
fancy  he  was  not  more  pleased  with  me  than  I  with 
him.  The  office  is  changed  every  three  years,  but  when 
the  holder  has  been  agreeable  to  the  Court  he  is  usually 
confirmed  in  his  appointment.  The  passing  grandeur 
of  these  gentlemen  should  naturally  make  them  less 
proud.  Strip  them  of  their  office  and  they  are  only 
like  an  actor  who  has  just  discarded  the  Roman  Toga, 
in  which  he  has  been  playing  Mithridates  or  Pyrrhus." 

The  Baron  was  as  much  pleased  with  M.  Poultier,  the 
High  Steward,  as  he  had  been  annoyed  by  Perichon,  the 
Provost.  With  the  former  he  exchanged  calls  and, 
during  the  four  days  he  stayed  at  Lyons,  he  spent  the 
evenings  at  his  house,  seeing  the  best  company  in  the 
city— 

"  Where  there  is  good  society,  but  very  little  aristo- 
cracy. When  a  stranger  is  once  known  he  can  find 
amusements,  the  Lyonnais  are  friendly  and  estimable, 
and  not  too  devoted  to  commerce  to  neglect  fine  manners. 
They  are  very  hospitable,  and  live  well.  They  love  cards, 
are  not  indifferent  to  the  fair  sex,  and  still  less  to  wine. 
The  play  is  passable,  and  as  much  patronized  as  if  it 
were  good.  The  actresses  nearly  all  have  luck  in  this 
town,  and  if  they  do  not  accumulate  money,  at  least 
they  collect  a  fine  wardrobe.  In  the  drawing-rooms  of 
these  ladies  a  captain  is  obliged  to  give  precedence  to 
a  counter-jumper. 

"  There  is  an  old  actress  here  who,  for  forty  years,  has 
been  the  joy  of  the  greater  part  of  Lyons.  People 
with  good  taste  would  like  to  see  her  banished  from  the 
theatre  ;  but  there  is  no  way  of  preventing  this  aged 
beauty  from  exhibiting  her  antique  charms.  She  is  the 
manageress  of  the  theatre,  which  brings  her  in  twenty- 
five  thousand  livres  a  year.  They  wanted  to  reduce  this 
salary  which,  in  reality,  could  have  been  better  spent ; 


THE  VAGRANT  231 

but  Mademoiselle  Marez — that  is  the  matron's  name — 
represented  that  she  could  not  live  on  less  than  twenty 
to  twenty-five  thousand  livres  a  year  ;  that,  her  lover 
not  being  in  a  position  to  provide  her  with  more  than 
eleven  thousand,  she  would  be  an  outcast  were  her 
salary  reduced.  Such  cogent  reasons  prevailed,  and  it 
was  deemed  unnecessary  to  drive  Mademoiselle  M.  to 
extremities.  A  great  lady  of  the  province,  who  was 
here,  remarked  jokingly,  on  hearing  that  the  Marez' 
lover  only  gives  her  eleven  thousand  a  year  :  '  Oh  ! 
the  wretch !  She  must  be  burnt !  She  takes  the  bread 
out  of  the  mouths  of  more  than  fifteen  honest  women  \  '  " 

Pollnitz  took  boat  down  the  Rhine  by  Vienne,  Valence, 
Pont  S.  Esprit,  to  Avignon — "  the  charming  and  fertile 
country  seemed  to  lack  nothing  but  inhabitants."  He 
posted  to  Aix,  the  capital  of  Provence,  and  stayed 
five  or  six  days,  enjoying  the  beautiful  town,  the  seat  of 
an  archbishop,  a  university,  and  a  parliament,  and  its 
walks  and  squares  with  avenues  and  fountains,  "  where 
the  nobihty  live  in  good  style,  with  card-parties  and 
promenades,  and,  on  certain  days,  concerts — strangers 
allowed  to  enter  gratis,  the  performers  being  paid  by 
a  certain  number  of  people  of  position  who  keep  up  the 
orchestra.''  Yet  how  Madame  de  Sevigne,  the  century 
before,  had  pitied  her  daughter,  exiled  as  the  wife  of 
the  Governor  of  Provence  ! 

The  situation  of  Marseilles  delighted  Pollnitz,  and  its 
fine  harbour,  great  inner  basin,  with  the  forts  defending 
it,  and  the  Arsenal.  In  the  harbour  lay  the  King's 
galleys,  with  their  unhappy  inmates,  who  did  nearly  all 
the  work  of  the  port,  says  Pollnitz,  loading  and  unloading 
the  ships.  "  Some  were  free  to  walk  and  trade  in  the 
town,  but  were  obliged  to  pay  a  man  to  escort  them, 
and  to  return  to  sleep  on  board.  Others,  with  great 
crimes  to  their  account,  are  chained,  two  and  two,  or 
four  and  four,  which,  however,  does  not  entirely  hinder 
them  from  earning  their  living  by  work."  As  for 
Pollnitz,  he  enjoyed  Marseilles,  its  look  of  opulency — 


232  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

"  in  few  places  do  you  get  such  good  food,  or  does  a 
gentleman  wish  to  pass  his  time  more  pleasantly  .  .  . 
theatres,  concerts,  promenades.  .  .  ." 

In  the  country  round  lay  over  two  thousand  little 
houses  called  hastides,  surrounded  by  vineyards  and 
lovely  gardens.  Hither,  he  was  told,  most  of  the  in- 
habitants retired  during  the  last  epidemic  of  the  plague 
in  Provence,  which  lasted  long  enough  to  kill  a  great 
part  of  the  people.  The  devastation  would  have  been 
worse  had  not  the  Regent  arranged  to  place  Marseilles 
in  quarantine. 

Like  his  modern  compatriots,  Pollnitz  fully  appreci- 
ated the  Sunny  South.     He  thought  Provence — 

"  A  splendid  country,  and  a  beautiful  spot  to  stay 
in,  at  any  time,  but  especially  in  the  winter.  It  is  just 
then  that  the  weather  is  finest,  and  one  sees  days  which 
may  really  be  called  summer  days.  I  remember  walk- 
ing on  the  quay  at  Marseilles  at  this  season  for  two  or 
three  hours,  and  having  been  obliged  to  go  in  on  account 
of  the  heat.  Yet  I  noticed  that  a  few  days  later  a 
wind  blew  (the  people  of  the  country  call  it  the  Mistral) 
which  is  very  cold,  and  I  felt  it  all  the  more  as  it  is  not 
easy  to  get  warm  in  this  country.  All  their  fuel  consists 
of  roots  and  branches  of  olive-trees,  which  do  not  make 
a  good  fire.  Moreover,  most  of  the  rooms,  especially  at 
the  inns,  have  no  chimneys,  so  that  one  is  obliged  to 
use  a  brazier,  which  is  very  uncomfortable  for  those  not 
used  to  warming  themselves  in  this  way." 

After  vainly  looking  for  a  vessel  sailing  direct  to  Sicily, 
"  and  finding  it  impossible  to  discover  one,"  the  Baron 
decided  to  take  one  to  Genoa  or  Livorno.  He  was 
told  that  the  passage  was  nothing,  and  only  took  a  few 
days.  But  a  contrary  wind  kept  the  ship  a  fortnight 
in  harbour,  and  when  they  did  set  sail  they  only  made 
the  little  harbour  of  La  Cieuta  in  Provence.  For  three 
days  Pollnitz  waited  for  a  favourable  wind  to  continue 
his  voyage,  and  then  decided  to  leave  his  trunks  and 


THE   VAGRANT  233 

his  servants  on  board  and  to  proceed  by  land.  He 
slept  at  Toulon,  where  he  found  a  polite  welcome  at  the 
Assembly-room  of  the  naval  officers  ;  then,  in  four 
days,  by  way  of  Frejus  and  Antibes,  he  reached  the  King 
of  Sardinia's  frontier  on  the  Var,  at  Nice.  Here  he 
noticed  "  the  first  orange-trees,  in  the  open  fields,  bear- 
ing fruit  summer  and  winter  " — so  different  from  the 
specimens  to  which  he  was  used  in  the  orangeries  of 
kings'  palaces. 

As  the  weather  was  fine,  Pollnitz  was  advised  to  take 
boat  at  Nice,  "  in  order  to  avoid  the  bad  roads  over  the 
mountains,"  of  La  Turbie.  In  his  day  the  Corniche 
road  did  not  exist,  and  only  mule-tracks  connected  the 
various  little  ports  of  the  Ligurian  coast. 

Sohe— 

**  Got  into  a  little  bark,  guided  by  only  two  men.  I 
soon  repented  having  done  this,  for,  half  an  hour  after 
my  embarkation,  a  storm  arose  which  nearly  caused 
me  to  perish,  and  it  was  only  by  a  kind  of  miracle  that 
I  landed  at  Villafranca,  which  is  only  remarkable  for 
containing  the  King  of  Sardinia's  six  galleys. 

*'  There  was  an  awful  storm  the  night  I  spent  in  the 
town.  The  next  day  the  weather  grew  calmer,  but  the 
sea  was  too  rough  and  I  would  not  risk  myself.  The  day 
following  seeming  to  me  as  fine  as  one  could  wish,  I  put 
out  to  sea,  only  to  find  myself  again  in  a  similar  peril  to 
that  which  I  had  gone  through.  The  winds,  or  rather 
all  the  devils,  were  let  loose  against  me.  I  confess  that 
I  was  terribly  frightened,  especially  when  I  saw  my 
conductors  lose  countenance.  Nevertheless,  I  put  on  a 
brave  face,  and  showed  them  that  the  danger  was  not 
so  great  as  they  fancied,  and  that  we  must  not  lose 
heart.  Anyhow,  I  do  not  quite  remember  what  it  was 
that  I  said  to  them ;  perhaps  my  harangue  was  not  as 
clear  as  if  I  had  been  on  terra- f^rma.  However,  I  arrived 
safely  at  Monaco." 

How  Pollnitz  would  have  enjoyed  staying  there  a 
century  and  a  half  later !     But  he  passed  on  to  San 


234  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

Remo,  the  first  town  in  the  Genoese  Republic,  and  took 
boat  to  Savona.     Here  he  was — 

"  So  bored  by  the  sea  that  I  took  mules  to  reach 
Genoa.  Two- thirds  of  the  way  are  hardly  practicable ; 
one  is  continually  going  up  and  down  hill,  which  is  very 
fatiguing.  The  only  pleasure  I  found  was  that  one 
was  always  on  the  edge  of  the  sea,  which  was  covered 
with  vessels  and  was  a  fine  sight.  When  you  arrive 
within  a  few  leagues  of  Genoa  the  journey  becomes 
very  pleasant ;  for  the  road  is  quite  level,  and  one  sees 
a  great  number  of  fine  houses,  with  gardens  and  terraces 
which  form  as  fine  an  amphitheatre  as  one  can  see,  all 
the  way  to  Genoa. "" 

The  situation  of  La  Superba,  of  course,  struck  PoUnitz, 
while  the  streets  of  splendid  palaces,  "  galleries  rather 
than  streets,"  appealed  to  his  love  of  architecture. 
But— 

"  When  you  go  into  some  of  the  finest  and  largest  of 
these  palaces,  you  do  not  find  a  soul  in  them.  It  appears 
that  sometimes  there  are  no  servants,  and  that  one  has 
difficulty  in  discovering  the  master  of  the  house ;  indeed, 
the  great  houses  of  Genoa  are  real  deserts  except  on 
certain  reception-days.  These  are  held  every  evening, 
sometimes  at  one  nobleman's  and  sometimes  at  another's. 
The  apartments  are  then  splendidly  lit  up,  and  aprofusion 
of  all  sorts  of  refreshments  are  served.  It  is  in  these 
sort  of  assemblies  and  in  a  poor  Italian  opera  that  the 
amusements  of  Genoa  consist,  so  that  a  stranger  has 
ample  time  to  be  bored.  Moreover,  there  are  few  meals 
given,  the  foreign  envoys,  who  generally  are  those  who 
entertain  most,  conforming  to  the  local  characteristic 
at  Genoa,  which  is  not  to  give  any  one  anything  to 
eat  or  drink.  In  my  time  it  was  only  the  English  envoy 
who  did  not  follow  this  custom,  and  he  delighted  in 
having  people  at  his  house.  .  .  .  There  is  more  society 
in  Genoa  than  at  Venice ;  the  nobles  are  more  accessible 
there. 


THE  VAGRANT  235 

"  I  do  not  think  that  those  who  accuse  the  Italians 
of  jealousy  can  possibly  include  the  Genoese.  In  few 
countries  in  the  world  have  the  women  more  liberty ; 
nor  do  they  sin  more — at  least,  in  appearance/' 

**  Sea  without  fish,  mountains  without  trees,  men 
without  faith,  women  without  shame,"  runs  the  Tuscan 
saying  of  Genoa  and  the  Genoese. 

*'  A  woman,"  chronicles  our  Baron,  "  must  possess 
few  charms  to  have  only  two  or  three  declared  lovers — 
cicishei,  they  are  called.  These  men  never  leave  their 
ladies,  and  make  love  rather  uncomfortably,  being 
obliged  to  trot  along  by  the  side  of  the  sedan-chair  of 
their  mistress,  so  that  it  is  by  the  sweat  of  their  brows 
that  they  earn  a  glance  from  the  fair  one.  There  are 
ladies  who  have  even  five  or  six  adorers,  who  accom- 
pany them  everywhere.  What  is  lucky  is  that  all  these 
rivals  live  in  good  understanding.  It  is  true  that,  if 
they  took  to  quarrelling,  they  would  be  obliged  to  resort 
to  fisticuffs,  for  the  nobility  do  not  carry  swords. 

"  They  are  dressed  like  the  lawyers  in  France  ;  but 
they  always  wear  short  silk  mantles,  and  I  wish  that 
Messieurs  the  Councillors  of  Parliament  in  France  would 
do  the  same,  in  order  to  distinguish  them  from  tailors 
and  counter-jumpers.  .  .  .  The  people  of  quality  dress 
well  here,  and  the  Genoese  of  either  sex  are  much  better- 
looking  than  the  Florentines  or  the  Romans,  and  they 
have  a  courtly  air  which  is  not  usual  among  the  Italians. 
In  general,  the  Genoese  have  savoir-vivre,  and  never 
commit  a  solecism. 

"  I  was  very  happy  in  this  town.  I  went  to  two  re- 
ceptions given  on  the  occasion  of  the  marriage  of  a 
nobleman ;  and  I  have  never  seen  anything  more 
splendid  ;  kings  could  not  have  given  anything  more 
magnificent.  I  was  introduced  by  the  Emperor's 
envoy,  the  Conte  Guiciardi." 

The  Baron  was  lucky  enough  to  be  in  Genoa  during 
the  election  of  a  new  Doge.     The  office  is  held  for  two 


236  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

years,  for  "  the  Doge  of  Genoa  is  a  living  example  of  the 
mutability  of  human  greatness,"  and  Pollnitz  gives  an 
account  of  the  solemn  procession  on  foot  to  the  cathedral, 
the  city  fathers  in  black  velvet  robes,  and  the  religious 
ceremony,  followed  by  what  was,  for  that  period,  "  a 
very  great  banquet,  of  three  hundred  people." 

But  far  more  interesting  was  the  arrival  in  Genoa 
of  the  great  Cardinal  Alberoni  after  his  disgrace.  The 
Republic  sent  a  galley  to  fetch  him  from  Spain,  and 
Pollnitz  witnessed  his  landing.  He  received  a  gracious 
reception,  and  fancied  himself  in  safety.  "  But,"  as 
he  said,  "  I  have  lost  the  friendship  of  the  King  and 
gained  the  enmity  of  the  Pope  !  "  And  he  fled  into  hiding 
in  Switzerland. 

After  a  stay  of  some  time  at  Genoa,  Pollnitz  went 
on  to  Salzana,  among  the  vines  and  olives,  and  where 
a  sergeant,  on  guard  at  the  gate,  asked  alms  of  him,  as 
a  little  tribute  paid  there  by  strangers.  Thence  to 
Pisa,  where  he  saw  the  sights,  and  on,  in  a  day,  to 
Florence. 

"  One  sees  Florence  from  afar,  and,  indeed,  it  is  a 
beautiful  view,  that  of  this  fine  city,  in  a  lovely  valley 
among  hills  which  rise  gradually  till  they  culminate 
in  high  mountains ;  the  hills  are  so  populated  that  they 
may  be  considered  as  faubourgs  of  Florence.  Through 
the  city  and  valley  flows  the  river  Arno.  Rightly  is 
Florence,  among  all  the  towns  of  Italy,  named  The 
Beautiful,  for  it  possesses  everything  that  can  be 
desired  of  a  rich  and  prosperous  large  town." 

Pollnitz  enlarges  on  the  sights,  especially  on  the 
churches,  that  of  San  Lorenzo,  built  as  a  mausoleum 
for  the  Medici,  but  then,  after  a  hundred  and  fifty  years, 
still  unfinished. 

The  Baron  was  received  by  the  aged  Grand-duke, 
Cosmo  III,  in  his  splendid  palace,  to  which  Pollnitz 
thought  the  descriptions  did  not  do  justice.  He  passed 
through  ,the  vast  gallery,   with  its    portraits,   china, 


THE  VAGRANT  237 

antiques,  'and  jewelled  tables.  But  what  jarred  upon 
his  naturally  cheerful  temperament  were  two  models 
in  wax,  "  of  rare  beauty ;  but  the  artist  has  chosen  the 
saddest  of  subjects — one  depicted  a  cemetery,  and  the 
other  a  village  afflicted  with  the  plague.  One  cannot 
look  at  these  two  pictures  without  feeling  at  the  same 
time  admiration  and  horror.'' 

In  the  octagon-room,  with  the  marble  floor  of  different 
colours,  the  walls  hung  with  red  velvet,  and  the  ceiling 
covered  with  mother-of-pearl,  he  saw  the  model  of  the 
Duchess's  celebrated  diamond.  The  gem  itself,  weighing 
a  hundred  and  thirty-nine  and  a  half  carats,  had 
been  last  exhibited,  some  ten  years  previously,  and  to 
the  King  of  Denmark  ;  since  then  only  the  model  has 
been  shown,  "  which  led  people  to  assume  that  the  gem 
was  no  longer  in  Florence."  In  fact,  many  people  told 
Pollnitz  that  it  had  been  sold  to  the  Grand  Signior  (the 
Sultan). 

The  Baron  was  introduced  by  the  Prime  Minister, 
and  found  the  Grand-duke  alone  in  his  room,  standing 
leaning  against  a  table  lighted  by  two  candles.  Cosmo 
was  a  hale  old  man,  with  white  hair  and  a  charming 
manner — 

"  Which  attracted  the  hearts  and  the  veneration  of 
all  who  approached  him.  .  .  .  When  I  had  saluted  him  he 
put  on  a  cap,  and  begged  me  to  cover  myself.  I  im- 
plored him  to  allow  me  to  remain  uncovered  in  conse- 
quence of  the  deep  respect  that  I  had  for  His  Highness. 
Whereupon  he  took  up  his  hat  and  begged  me  to  put  on 
mine,  which  I  did  directly  he  had  covered  himself  .  .  . 
on  the  great  principle,"  adds  the  Baron,  who  was  a 
stickler  for  etiquette,  "  that  private  persons  should 
maintain  the  posture  demanded  of  them  by  princes. 
Yet  I  must  confess  that  I  felt  some  regret  in  talking  to 
a  Prince  of  that  age,  and  of  the  rank  of  Grand-duke, 
with  my  hat  on. 

"  The  Prince  began,  before  entering  into  conversation, 
by  asking  me  if  I  spoke  Italian." 


238  A  VAGABOND  COUETIER 

The  Baron  replied  that  he  spoke  a  Httle,  but  not 
enough  to  undertake  to  converse  in  that  language  in 
the  presence  of  so  great  a  Prince.     The  latter  replied  : 

"  *  And  I,  I  splutter  a  little  French  !  '  yet  did  me 
the  honour  to  talk  to  me  a  long  time  in  that  language, 
and  with  much  kindness." 

The  following  day  PoUnitz  was  presented  to  the  Grand 
Prince,  who  received  him  very  kindly.  He  remembered 
seeing  Fraulein  von  PoUnitz  at  the  late  Queen's  at 
Berlin,  and  to  have  been  to  the  house  of  Pollnitz's 
mother,  Frau  von  Meinders,  during  his  stay  in  Germany, 
where  he  had  married  a  Princess  Saxe-Lauenburg,  widow 
of  the  Prince  Palatine  of  Neuburg,  brother  of  the  Elector 
Palatine,  while  his  sister  had  married  the  Elector 
Palatine,  John  William  of  Neuburg. 

The  Grand  Prince  received  the  Baron  with  much 
kindness  and  promised  him  all  the  protection  he  might 
require.  Pollnitz  also  paid  his  respects  to  the  widowed 
Electress,  who,  childless,  had  returned  to  her  father's 
Court,  where  she  lived  in  great  seclusion,  "  almost  con- 
tinually at  her  orisons."  She  recollected  the  Baron's 
visit  to  her  at  Diisseldorf,  early  in  his  wanderings,  at 
the  fine  palace  in  the  forest  overlooking  the  Rhine, 
where  he  spent  "  such  a  pleasant  time,"  and  she  loaded 
him  with  attentions  and  kindness. 

From  Florence  Pollnitz  went  to  Rome  by  Siena. 
A  midwinter  journey  over  the  Apennines  was  no  trifle 
in  those  days,  *'  though  the  roads  in  the  Tuscan  States 
were  well  kept  up,  and  an  endeavour  had  been  made  to 
make  them  as  practicable  as  possible,  by  smoothing 
the  slope  of  the  mountains.  But  when  one  enters  the 
Ecclesiastical  States  the  roads  are  terrible,  and  one  can 
hardly  get  along." 

Bad  weather  and  a  heavy  fall  of  snow  detained  the 
Baron  at  the  post-house  at  Montefiascone. 

"  At  the  same  time  there  was  such  a  gale  and  such 
terrible  cold  that  the  inhabitants  told  me  that  they  had 


THE  VAGEANT  239 

never  felt  anything  so  violent.  I  had  no  difficulty  in 
believing  them,  especially  after  what  happened  to  me 
at  the  post-house. 

"  The  postmaster  showed  me  up  into  a  great  room, 
where  I  found  two  gentlemen,  one  an  Italian  and  the 
other  a  German,  coming  from  Eome,  but  forced  like 
me,  by  the  weather,  to  halt  at  Montefiascone.  We 
began  to  talk  over  the  fire.  I  became  aware  of  a  con- 
tinuous movement,  as  if  some  one  was  rocking  us.  As 
I  had  never  felt  an  earthquake,  I  thought  it  was  one  ; 
but  the  Italian  told  me  that  the  movement  was  too 
regular,  and  that  it  must  come  from  some  other  cause. 

"  Indeed,  after  a  few  minutes  we  became  convinced 
that  it  was  the  gale  which  was  shaking  us  thus.  As 
we  were  afraid  of  perishing  among  the  ruins  of  the  house, 
we  asked  the  landlord  to  put  us  in  another  place  where 
we  should  be  less  in  danger  of  our  lives.  The  man 
began  to  laugh  over  our  fright,  and,  to  reassure  us,  told 
us  that  for  thirty  years  the  house  had  shaken  like  this, 
without  having  been  damaged. 

"  All  these  reasons  did  not  convince  me  of  the  solidity 
of  the  house  ;  on  the  contrary,  in  my  opinion,  thirty 
years  of  shaking  ought  to  end  in  a  speedy  dissolution, 
and  besides,  as  luck  is  always  against  me,  it  was  prudent 
not  to  meet  accidents  half-way.  So  I  decided  to  go 
downstairs,  and  the  two  gentlemen  with  me  did  the 
same,  and  our  host  led  us  to  a  house  opposite ;  but  only 
to  be  worse  off. 

"  For  the  fire  was  no  sooner  lighted  than  we  thought 
that  we  should  be  suffocated  by  the  smoke.  It  was 
absolutely  necessary  to  open  the  window  to  get  some 
air ;  but  the  violence  of  the  wind  did  not  long  allow 
of  our  remaining  in  this  place,  and  we  were  obliged  to 
change  our  abode  a  second  time. 

"  We  went  into  the  town  in  the  hope  of  being  better 
off.  We  tumbled  upon  the  most  detestable  inn  in  the 
world  ;  nevertheless,  we  made  up  our  minds  to  stay 
there,  because,  happily,  there  was  a  chimney  which  did 
not  smoke.    At  first  we  imagined  that  we  should  recoup 


240  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

ourselves  for  the  cold  we  had  felt  in  all  these  changes, 
but  it  was  fated  that  we  should  not  pass  the  day  without 
encountering  fresh  disagreeables  :  the  chimney  caught 
fire.  The  town  was  alarmed,  every  one  collected,  and 
happily  the  fire  was  soon  extinguished.  But  that  did 
not  prevent  the  people  rising  against  us,  and  I  fancied, 
for  a  moment,  that  we  were  going  to  be  put  in  prison  as 
incendiaries.  But  we  escaped  with  only  a  fright  and 
the  scattering  of  some  coin.  But,  in  consequence  of 
this  tumult,  we  were  forbidden  to  have  a  fire  in  our  room, 
so  that  we  had  to  put  up  with  one  in  the  dirtiest  kitchen 
in  the  world." 


CHAPTER   XVI 

Halting  his  post-chaise  on  a  height  above  where  the 
Tiber  flows  under  the  Ponte  Mole,  the  Baron  let  his  eyes 
revel  over  the  first  sight  of  the  Eternal  City,  enjoying  in 
prospect  the  delight  of  exploring  its  quarters. 

Crossing  the  river,  he  drove  along  a  paved  road,  bor- 
dered by  gardens  and  by  villas,  and  entered  by  the 
Porto  del  Popolo  into  the  celebrated  piazza  with  its 
twin  churches  and  the  famous  obelisk  of  Sixtus  X. 
Then  came  the  custom-house.  "  Directly  the  clerks  had 
finished  turning  my  boxes  upside  down,'"  he  went  on  his 
way  to  the  Piazza  di  Spagna,  "  with  its  fountain  used 
as  a  drinking-trough,"  and  put  up  at  the  Hotel  di 
Monte  Doro. 

Next  day  he  took  a  guide,  whom  he  calls  "  an  anti- 
quarian," and  began  at  once  to  do  the  sights,  which 
he  describes  at  length,  not  omitting  to  mention — good 
German  as  he  always  is  at  heart — that  the  Vatican 
Library  had  been  much  enriched  by  the  spoil  of  that  of 
Heidelberg. 

Next  he  paid  calls,  armed  with  letters  of  introduction 
from  Florence,  was  received  by  a  Duke  and  a  Marquis 
(initials  only  given)  with  great  civility,  and  introduced 
to  the  parties. 

"  At  a  Madame  de  B 's  I  found  a  very  fine  gather- 
ing of  ladies  and  cavaliers,  and  especially  of  good- 
looking  Abbes,  who  could  have  given  the  most  complete 
dandies  points  in  the  art  of  flirting.  The  ladies  were 
very  well  dressed  and  mostly  very  agreeable,  but  not 
easy  of  access  to  those  who  had  not  the  honour  of 
wearing  the  fetit  collet — the  clerical  collar.     The  young 

I— 16  241 


242  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

Abbes  had  taken  care  to  get  hold  of  them,  so  that  it 
seemed  out  of  one's  power  to  approach  them.  Time 
passed  in  talking  and  in  drinking  much  chocolate,  after 
which  we  went  into  another  room  and  began  to  play 
different  games.  It  was  then  that  I  felt  how  very 
advantageous  it  would  have  been  for  me  to  be  M. 
TAbbe. 

"  Each  of  these  gentlemen  easily  made  up  his  game  ; 
as  for  me,  as  no  one  did  me  the  honour  to  offer  me  any 
cards,  I  found  myself  very  idle,  and,  without  my  intro- 
ducer, to  whom  I  talked  from  time  to  time,  I  should  have 
cut  a  very  foolish  figure.  I  did  not  think  it  advisable  to 
wait  for  the  end  of  this  assembly,  and  was  very  pleased 
to  find  myself  outside." 

However,  the  Baron  tried  again.  The  Duke  took 
him  to  another  party.     Here  he  found — 

"  The  company  not  large,  and  moreover,  quite  as 
unamusing  as  the  first  into  which  I  had  been  introduced. 
I  found  few  ladies,  again  many  Abbes,  and  hardly  any 
gentlemen  of  the  sword.  I  quite  understood  that  the 
Roman  receptions  were  none  of  the  most  amusing  for 
a  foreigner,  and  made  up  my  mind  to  occupy  myself 
with  the  sights  of  the  city." 

The  Baron,  however,  was  better  pleased  with  Roman 
society  at  Cardinal  Corsini's,  to  which  he  was  taken  by 

the  Marquis  A .     Every  evening  His  Eminence  held 

a  reception,  and  welcomed  Pollnitz  most  graciously. 
**  The  Cardinal  did  the  honours  of  his  house  perfectly, 
and  was  careful  to  see  that  every  one  was  amused,  either 
with  cards  or  conversation,"  and  each  evening  during 
his  stay  in  Rome  Pollnitz  did  not  fail  to  appear  at  his 
reception. 

He  found  his  lack  of  Italian  and  the  Romans'  little 
partiality  for  speaking  French  rather  a  handicap  in 
society. 

"  Many  ladies  speak  and  understand  French,  but  will 
not  speak  it,  either  from  malice  or  timidity.     One  day 


THE  VAGRANT  243 

I  addressed  a  rather  pleasant  lady  ;  I  spoke  French,  as 
I  did  not  know  Italian  then  ;  but  she  replied,  in  good 
French :  '  I  do  not  understand  or  speak  French, 
Monsieur/  Then  she  turned  aside,  and,  at  that  moment, 
I  saw  a  good-looking  Abbe  enter,  who  talked  to  her  in 
whispers  all  the  evening.  Apparently  he  spoke  a  lan- 
guage she  understood. 

"  A  Protestant  Colonel  in  the  French  service,  an 
Italian  by  birth,  came  often  to  see  me  in  the  mornings. 
One  day  he  said  to  me  that  he  saw  that  I  had  adopted 
French  habits.  I  asked  him  why.  He  replied  that  it 
was  because  I  changed  my  shirt  daily. 

**  Slovenliness,  however,  is  not  general.  People  are 
as  scented  here  as  elsewhere,  and  a  Roman  dandy  is 
quite  as  much  the  fop  as  a  French  one.  True,  they 
are  rarer,  because  young  men  under  twenty  are  not 
admitted  into  society  here.'' 

The  Baron's  next  move  was  to  be  presented  to  the 
Pope.  Clement  XI  was  very  old,  but  still  wily.  Dubois 
was  haggling  with  him  for  the  Cardinal's  hat,  but  the 
Regent  was  not  popular  with  His  Holiness,  exasperated 
with  the  long  quarrels  in  France  on  the  Bull  Unigeni- 
tus,  and  "  Paris  was  Jansenist  to  the  core."  So  PoUnitz 
did  well  to  rely  upon  Imperial  support. 

"  As  a  German,  I  made  my  call  first  on  Cardinal  de 
Giudice,  who  was  in  charge  of  the  affairs  of  the  Empire, 
and  to  whom  I  had  introductions.  His  palace  was 
one  of  the  few  with  modern  furniture.  After  waiting 
a  few  moments  in  his  anteroom,  I  was  introduced  to  his 
presence  by  one  of  his  gentlemen.  As  the  prelate  was 
not  well  that  day,  I  found  him  in  a  dressing-gown  on 
a  sofa.  He  rose  when  he  saw  me  enter,  and  advanced 
a  few  steps  to  meet  me.  Then  he  sat  down,  and  made 
me  take  an  arm-chair  opposite  his  sofa.  When  the 
audience  was  over  he  rose  and  led  me  to  the  door  of 
his  room.  There  I  found  two  of  his  gentlemen,  who 
escorted  me  to  the  grand  staircase  ;  one  went  down 
with  me  and  accompanied  me  to  my  coach." 


244  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

The  Baron  also  had  an  introduction  to  Cardinal 
Gualtieri,  who  gave  him — 

"  A  most  obliging  reception.  He  gave  me  audience 
in  his  study.  After  the  first  politenesses  he  sat  in  an 
arm-chair,  and  made  me  sit  down  also,  and  obliged  me 
to  put  my  hat  on.  This  I  was  very  loth  to  do,  but 
at  last  I  was  obliged  to  comply,  and  remained  in  that 
condition  for  quite  an  hour.  I  was  charmed  with  the 
manners  of  this  prelate.  Of  all  the  Cardinals,  he  had 
least  of  the  usual  arrogance  of  Eminences.  The  kind- 
ness he  showed  me  led  me  to  make  friends  with  him, 
and  I  paid  my  respects  to  him  very  assiduously  all  the 
time  I  was  in  Rome.  He  had  me  taken  by  one  of  his 
gentlemen  to  Cardinal  Ottoboni,  to  whom  I  also  had  an 
introduction ;  he  was  protector  of  French  interests. 
I  found  him  in  his  study.  He  was  standing  when  I 
came  in,  and  remained  so  all  the  time  of  my  visit ;  and 
I  was  escorted  out,  when  I  retired,  in  the  same  manner 
as  at  Cardinal  del  Giudice's." 

Pollnitz  found  an  old  acquaintance  in  another  delight- 
ful prelate.  Cardinal  Grimani,  "  an  ecclesiastic  of  great 
virtue,  whose  morals  are  sound,  his  manners  simple  and 
polite."  Pollnitz  had  known  him  as  Internuncio  at 
Brussels,  as  Nuncio  at  Cologne,  then  in  Poland,  and 
at  Vienna,  where  he  was  residing  when  raised  to  the 
purple.  He  had  now  come  to  Rome  to  receive  his 
hat ;  and  Pollnitz  found  him  the  same  as  when  only 
Internuncio.  "  Honours,"  he  says,  "  alter  only  mean 
souls." 

Having  thus  smoothed  the  way,  the  Baron  was  pre- 
sented to  the  Pope  by  Cardinal  Giudice. 

**  He  had  an  audience  alone  before  introducing  me, 
after  which  I  was  told  to  enter.  According  to  custom, 
I  knelt  in  the  door-way  ;  then,  rising,  I  advanced  to 
the  middle  of  the  room,  and  was  preparing  for  a  second 
genuflection,  but  the  Pope  stopped  me  and  beckoned 
to  me  to  approach  him,  saying,  '  Avanti,  avanti." 


THE  VAGBANT  245 

**  I  obeyed.  I  advanced  to  his  feet,  knelt  down,  and 
kissed  the  embroidered  cross  on  His  Holiness's  slippers. 
The  Pope  gave  me  his  blessing,  and  ordered  me  to  rise. 
He  did  me  the  honour  to  talk  to  me  a  long  time  about 
my  happiness  in  embracing  the  Catholic  Religion ;  he 
even  inquired  about  some  details  of  my  conversion,  and 
seemed  to  feel  the  grace  which  God  had  vouchsafed  me 
so  deeply  that  he  could  not  help  shedding  a  few  tears. 

"  He  then  asked  for  information  about  the  state  of 
religion  in  Germany,  and  he  gave  great  praise  to  the 
Elector  Palatine  for  the  zeal  he  was  evincing  for  the 
Catholic  faith.  He  ended  by  exhorting  me  to  remain 
firm  on  the  side  I  had  been  happy  enough  to  embrace. 
When  he  dismissed  me  His  Holiness  presented  me  with 
several  Ag7ius,  with  two  little  medallions,  one  of  gold 
and  the  other  of  silver,  and  with  a  dispensation  to  eat 
meat  in  Lent." 

Pollnitz  stayed  at  Rome  over  Easter.  Thanks  to 
Cardinal  Gualtieri,  he  had  an  excellent  place  from 
which  to  view  all  the  ceremonies  of  Holy  Week.  He 
notes  how  full  the  churches  were — "  crowded  to  suffoca- 
tion " — but  he  did  not  think  that  the  Italians  attended 
them  only  for  devotional  purposes ;  it  seemed  to  him 
that  the  excellent  music,  rather  than  religion,  was  the 
attraction. 

Immediately  after  Easter  the  Baron  left  Rome,  with 
several  other  foreigners,  by  post,  for  Naples.  Especially 
was  he  struck  with  the  view  from  the  balcony  of  the 
Viceroy's  palace  there.  "  Never  have  I  seen  anything 
so  extensive,  nor  so  beautifully  varied  :  the  splendid 
gardens  ;  the  harbour  ;  the  Arsenal ;  the  high  moun- 
tains ;    terrible  Vesuvius.'' 

Cardinal  Schrotenbach,  then  Viceroy,  was  unpopular, 
"  keeping  a  small  and  poorly  attended  Court,"  and 
rarely  appearing  among  a  people  who  like  to  see  a 
nobleman  filling  with  pomp  an  office  which  they  hold 
to  be  above  all  others."  Pollnitz  was  told  of  a  Nea- 
pohtan  lady  who,  at  an  audience  of  the  King  of  Spain, 


246  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

told  the  latter  that  she  hoped,  as  a  crown  of  happiness, 
God  would  be  pleased  one  day  to  make  him  Viceroy  of 
Naples. 

At  Naples  the  Baron  found  Prince  T ,  whom  he 

had  known  in  Vienna,  and  who  offered  to  take  him  to 
some  parties,  which  offer  Pollnitz  accepted  with  pleasure 
on  the  assurance  that  they  would  be  unlike  those  at 
Rome.  He  made  acquaintance  with  several  Nea- 
politan nobles,  who  showed  him  the  sights.  Especially 
was  he  delighted  with  the  magnificent  promenade  of 
the  Chiaja,  and  the  number  of  coaches,  more  French 
in  appearance  than  those  of  Rome,  except  that  they  were 
drawn  by  mules,  or  very  poor  horses. 

After  driving  a  supper-party  was  suggested,  and 
good  fare  and  good  company  promised.  Pollnitz  saw 
that  they  had  not  deceived  him. 

"  The  food  was  most  delicate,  and  very  agreeable 
ladies  were  of  the  party.  I  should  have  been  really 
delighted  to  talk  to  them,  but  for  lack  of  knowing 
Italian  I  could  only  converse  by  signs — a  mode  of 
conversation  very  uncomfortable,  for  people  would 
have  asked  nothing  better  than  to  talk.     After  supper 

a  game  of  faro  was  suggested.     Prince  T •  offered 

to  deal,  which  he  did  with  every  possible  ill  luck ;  in 
a  short  time  I  saw  him  lose  very  large  sums.  For  my 
part,  I  won  two  hundred  and  sixty  pistoles,  which  he 
sent  me  next  morning  with  a  large  basket  of  green  peas 
and  many  fruits." 

Of  course  the  Baron  did  not  fail  to  visit  "  the  terrible 
Vesuvius.'' 

**  But  when  I  found  myself  on  the  top  of  the  dreadful 
mountains,  I  was  very  sorry  to  have  come  there.  I 
thought  I  should  have  been  rewarded  for  the  trouble  I 
had  had  in  ascending  it  by  the  sight  of  something 
wonderful  when  I  was  on  the  summit.  Not  at  all.  I 
saw  nothing  but  smoke  coming  out  of  several  very  large 


THE  VAGRANT  247 

holes,  wliich  it  would  have  been  unwise  to  approach. 
This  I  was  not  tempted  to  do,  and  I  shortly  afterwards 
went  back  as  wise  as  I  came.  All  that  I  noticed  which 
was  at  all  remarkable  was  that,  in  kicking  one's  foot 
against  the  ground,  I  heard  a  noise  like  that  of  an 
empty  barrel.  That  is  all  that  I  can  tell  you  about 
Mount  Vesuvius. 

"  As  for  the  shape  of  this  mountain,  it  would  be 
useless  to  describe  it,  as  it  changes  every  time  it  erupts. 
I  had  much  more  difficulty  in  descending  than  I  had  in 
ascending ;  the  quantity  of  baked  earth,  calcined 
stones,  Jbituminous  matter,  and  cinders,  made  the 
descent  so  difficult  that,  when  I  reached  the  bottom,  I 
could  hardly  get  back  to  my  horse.  I  noticed  that  the 
soft  boots  which  I  wore  were  quite  burnt,  doubtless  by 
the  sulphur  and  the  lime  of  which  this  mountain  is 
composed. 

*'  I  was  told  that  it  was  a  long  time  since  there  had 
been  an  eruption  ;  but  that  one  would  occur  shortly, 
because  so  many  new  craters  were  to  be  seen,  and 
that  the  ground  was  sinking  visibly.  Such  a  neighbour 
struck  me  as  being  uncomfortable  for  such  a  large  city 
as  Jvlaples  ;  but  the  Neapolitans  do  not  seem  to  think 
much  about  it.  It  is  true  that,  directly  the  flames 
appear,  they  are  no  longer  the  same  people.  They  run 
in  crowds  to  the  churches,  every  one  is  seen  at  their 
prayers,  they  solemnly  promise  to  alter  their  lives  ;  but, 
when  they  think  themselves  again  in  safety,  they  are 
as  dissipated  as  ever.  Like  those  strong-minded  people 
who,  when  in  good  health,  seem  to  despise  death,  but, 
when  they  feel  it  approaching,  show  signs  of  weakness 
which  belie  their  assumed  courage." 

PoUnitz  drove  through  the  famous  tunnel  of  Possi- 
lippo,  in  which  two  coaches  can  pass,  the  drivers  shout- 
ing in  the  darkness  from  time  to  time  to  avoid  a  collision. 
He  saw  the  usual  dog  asphyxiated  in  the  sulphureous 
Grotto  del  Cane,  and  was  unimpressed  with  the  ruins  of 
Puzzuoh,  "  not  a  vestige  of  its  ancient  splendour.    I  do 


248  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

not  know  why  visitors  make  a  sort  of  matter  of  prin- 
ciple to  go  there ;  there  are  nothing  but  old  crumbling 
walls,  which  do  not  mean  anything." 

Pollnitz  was  little  of  a  classic,  and  archaeology  was 
not  much  to  the  taste  of  his  century ;  but  thirty  years 
later  his  friend,  the  Margravine  of  Bayreuth,  was  scramb- 
ling on  hands  and  knees  about  the  ruins  in  ecstasy. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Pollnitz  had  written  from 
Munich  to  his  patron,  Count  Stahrenberg,  the  Com- 
mander-in-Chief, explaining  the  reason  of  the  delay 
in  his  joining  the  regiment  in  Sicily  to  which  Stahren- 
berg had  posted  him.  Pollnitz  only  waited  in  Naples 
long  enough  to  receive  a  reply  to  a  second  letter  he 
had  sent  to  him  in  Sicily  on  arrival,  "  pleading  that 
business  of  the  utmost  importance  prevented  me  having 
the  honour  of  joining  him  as  soon  as  I  should  wish.'' 

The  truth  was  that  several  of  his  Neapolitan  friends 
dissuaded  him  from  the  idea  of  soldiering  in  Sicily. 
The  fighting  was  over,  the  Austrian  troops  only  en- 
gaged in  the  dull  monotony  of  occupying  it.  The  letter 
in  which  Count  Stahrenberg  replied  to  Pollnitz  only 
confirmed  the  latter  in  his  friends'  view.  "  He  took 
a  tone  which  displeased  me,  and  the  lesson  he  was 
pleased  to  read  me  decided  me  not  to  lay  myself  open 
to  receiving  any  more." 

Pollnitz  was  ever  averse  to  discipline.  He  replied 
to  Stahrenberg  that  he  could  "  dispose  of  his  com- 
mission, as  his  affairs  did  not  permit  of  his  taking  service 
so  soon."  He  then  made  up  his  mind  to  try  his  luck 
at  the  Court  of  Spain,  which  he  had  long  wished  to 
visit.  However,  he  was  not  to  find  himself  any  happier 
there  than  in  so  many  others. 


CHAPTER   XVII 

Next  to  Paris,  Venice  was  the  gayest  city  in  Europe  at 
this  period.  Not  having  found  society  in  Rome  and 
Naples  sufficiently  lively,  the  Baron  was  burning  to  see 
Venice  again,  and  made  up  his  mind  to  take  it  on  his 
way  to  Spain.  So  he  hurried  back  through  the  States  of 
the  Church,  stopping  at  Loretto  to  see  the  magnificent 
church  which  contains  the  famous  chapel  which  was  the 
House  of  the  Virgin. 

"  One  is  surprised  at  first,"  he  writes  sceptically,  "  to 
find  in  Italy  a  house  originally  built  in  a  country  so  re- 
mote from  that  which  it  inhabits  to-day  ;  but,  on  hearing 
a  little  of  its  history,  one  is  the  more  astonished,  for, 
before  finding  its  domicile  in  the  Marches  of  Ancona, 
this  house  has  changed  its  dwelling-place  several  times. 
First,  from  Nazareth,  which  was  really  its  native  country, 
it  was  borne,  they  say,  by  angels  to  Dalmatia,  where  it 
remained  three  years.  After  that  time  the  angels 
caught  it  up  a  second  time,  and  brought  it  to  the  territory 
of  Recantati  in  the  Marches  of  Ancona.  But,  as  much 
was  heard  in  those  days  of  murders  and  brigandage  in 
that  country,  the  angels,  alarmed  at  such  a  locality, 
caught  up  the  house  the  third  time,  and  placed  it  at 
a  little  distance  from  where  it  is  now.  But  it  did  not 
long  remain  there,  for  the  two  brothers  to  whom  the 
ground  belonged  on  which  it  had  been  placed  disputed 
so  warmly  as  to  who  should  be  the  master  of  it  that 
the  angels  ended  the  quarrel  by  carrying  the  building  to 
the  spot  where  it  is  to  be  seen  to-day." 

Pollnitz  visited  the  Treasury,  with  all  the  wonderful 

249 


250  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

gifts  which  countless  pilgrims  had  showered  upon  the 
Holy  House,  and  then  left  by  Rimini  for  Bologna. 

Here  he  stayed  several  days  to  see  his  old  friend 
Cardinal  Grimani,  now  governing  Bologna,  the  second 
city  of  the  Papal  States,  as  Legate.  A  pleasant  time 
he  spent  in  "  Bologna  the  Fat,'"  so  called  because  of 
the  fertility  of  its  soil.     There  were — 

"  Plenty  of  aristocracy,  very  forthcoming,  fine  pic- 
tures, excellent  concerts,  opera  and  theatre,  delightful 
promenades,  pleasant  country-houses,  all  that  one  can 
desire  in  life.  .  .  .  One  lives  in  better  style  and  with 
more  freedom  than  in  other  places  in  Italy,  and,  to 
express  myself  in  one  word  as  to  what  I  think  about  this 
city,  I  would  say  that  it  is  the  only  one  I  would  live  in 
had  I  to  settle  in  Italy." 

On  starting  for  Venice  Pollnitz  took  the  daily  boat, 
called  the  Messenger,  down  the  Reno — 

"  The  most  detestable  means  of  conveyance  which 
a  gentleman  can  use  ;  but  one  had  to  put  up  with  it. 
Scarcely  had  we  got  under  way,  however,  than,  a  few 
miles  from  Ferrara,  the  water  became  too  low.  All  who 
were  in  the  boat  were  landed,  the  baggage  was  put  on  to 
wagons,  and  we  were  made  to  get  into  a  sort  of  coach, 
very  like  the  French  diligences.  I  felt  a  great  repug- 
nance to  enter  this  equipage,  whose  exterior  did  not 
promise  well.  The  driver  seemed  to  have  a  Httle  wine 
in  his  head,  and,  the  horses  he  had  to  drive  being  ex- 
tremely restive,  required  a  coachman  with  all  his  wits, 
and  a  little  more,  about  him." 

However,  there  was  no  alternative  except  to  do  the 
rest  of  the  journey  afoot. 

"  We  went  off  at  a  pace  which  made  me  very  uneasy 
on  the  road,  but  our  driver  got  well  out  of  the  most 
difficult  places,  and  we  rmnbled  along  happily  to  Fer- 


THE  VAGRANT  251 

rara.  But  hardly  had  we  entered  the  town  than  our 
driver,  apparently  wishful  to  exhibit  his  skill,  whipped 
up  his  horses  at  the  precise  moment  in  which  we  were 
turning  into  a  street ;  the  horses,  thus  urged,  wheeled 
with  such  impetuosity  that,  having  taken  too  short  a 
turn,  a  hind-wheel  went  over  a  rather  high  stone-post, 
and  upset  the  coach  so  violently  that  two  persons  sitting 
next  the  door  were  killed  instantaneously.  As  for  me,  I 
escaped  with  a  blow  on  the  head,  which  gave  me  a  swollen 
cheek  for  a  week  or  so.  My  servant,  who  was  opposite 
me  in  the  coach,  had  his  wrist  dislocated.  Indeed,  out 
of  the  eight  souls  that  we  were,  not  one  but  had  some 
cause  of  complaint.  What  surprised  me  most  was  that  I 
was  the  least  hurt  of  them  all ;  it  is  perhaps  the  first 
time  that  I  have  found  some  one  more  unfortunate  than 
myself.  As  my  swollen  cheek  did  not  permit  of  my 
promenading  about  Ferrara  as  I  should  have  wished,  I 
put  my  baggage  on  a  boat,  that  took  me  to  Venice, 
which  I  reached  at  midnight." 

This  was  Pollnitz's  second  visit  to  Venice.  Thirteen 
years  before  he  had  been  there  to  remove  the  body  of  his 
aunt,  the  Marquise  Duhamel,  from  the  lazaretto  where 
she  died,  to  Berlin  for  burial. 

In  consequence  of  his  accident  he  was  obliged  to  keep 
his  room  for  a  few  days,  but  when  he  was  fit  to  go  out 
he  went  about  the  city  as  much  on  foot  as  in  a  gondola. 

"  This  last  way  of  travelling,  though  very  smooth, 
is  always  alarming  to  people  unused  to  it ;  one  fancies 
one  is  often  in  danger  of  drowning,  especially  when  one 
turns  from  one  street  to  another.  It  seems  as  if  one 
must  be  thrown  into  the  canal,  which,  indeed,  could 
well  happen  with  less  experienced  oarsmen  than  the 
Venetian  gondoliers." 

Probably  his  recent  accident  must  have  shaken  the 
Baron's  nerves,  never  very  strong.  He  evidently  pre- 
ferred to  thread  his  way  afoot  through  narrow  alleys  and 


252  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

over  the  bridges,  but  especially  did  he  like  to  walk  in  the 
Piazza,  called  the  Broglio,  where  the  aristocracy  dis- 
ported themselves  in  front  of  the  Doge's  palace.  "  This 
walk,  not  roofed  in,  and  without  any  green  grass,  was 
yet  very  pleasant  on  account  of  the  vicinity  of  the  sea, 
which  was  always  in  sight,  and  which  makes  a  charming 
cowp  d'oBil.  .  .  .  The  Venetians  look  upon  the  Adriatic 
as  a  possession  which  is  specially  their  own,''  as  is  shown 
by  the  ancient  custom  of  the  Marriage  of  the  Sea  by  the 
Doge  on  Ascension  Day. 

"  The  crowd  of  vessels,  of  galleys,  of  gondolas,  coming 
and  going,  present  a  spectacle  all  the  more  amusing 
as  it  is  very  varied  .  .  .  and  moreover,  one  can  discern 
many  little  islands,  inhabited  only  by  the  religious 
orders,  who  have  fine  churches  and  convents  on  them." 

On  this  visit  to  Venice  Pollnitz  did  not  see  the  Doge, 
who  seemed  to  him  "  an  imaginary  Prince,  and  really  the 
head  slave  of  the  Republic."  Pie  found  the  Venetian 
nobility  "  as  scrupulous  over  political  matters  as  the 
Romans  over  ceremonies."  They  even  went  so  far,  as 
Pollnitz  found  by  his  own  experience,  as  to  have  no 
intercourse  with  any  one  affecting  the  society  of  an 
ambassador. 

"...  Politics,  mistrust,  suspicion,  are  the  tyrants 
of  the  nobility  of  Venice,  but  still  more  of  ambassadors, 
whom  every  one  shuns  as  suspected  persons,  and  whom 
a  stranger  can  hardly  associate  with  without  giving  up 
all  intercourse  with  the  nobles.  Thus  an  ambassador 
is  reduced  to  amusing  himself  in  his  own  domesticity, 
or  in  the  company  of  foreign  visitors,  of  whom  there 
are  always  a  great  many  in  this  city.  No  nobleman 
may  visit  him  without  the  express  permission  of  the 
Senate." 

The  rise  of  the  sea-power  of  England  and  Holland 
had  shaken  that  of  the  Republic  ;   she  was  jealous  and 


THE  VAGRANT  253 

suspicious,  and  on  her  guard  against  the  European 
Powers ;  while  the  Turks,  having  wrested  the  Morea  from 
her,  had  curtailed  her  influence  in  the  Mediterranean. 

Now,  as  the  Baron  met  in  Venice  Q ,  whom  he 

knew  at  the  Hanoverian  Court,  and  G ,  whom  he 

had  met  at  Vienna,  he  imagined  that,  in  order  to  be 
introduced  into  good  houses,  he  could  not  do  better  than 
to  call  upon  them.  He  did  so,  and  was  politely  received  ; 
but  when  his  visit  was  returned  next  day  he  perceived, 
in  the  course  of  a  short  conversation,  that  they  had 
noticed  that  he  much  affected  the  society  of  the  Imperial 
Ambassador,  Count  Colloredo,  whose  wife,  a  Blaspiel, 
had  a  brother  in  the  household  of  the  King  of  Prussia. 
The  Baron,  on  his  part,  showed  plainly  that  he  had  no 
mind  to  sacrifice  the  ambassador's  house,  where  he  met 
all  that  was  most  distinguished  among  the  foreigners  at 
Venice. 

The  visit  of  the  Hereditary  Prince  of  Modena,  who 
was  about  to  marry  Mademoiselle  de  Valois,  daughter  of 
the  Regent,  and  wished  for  a  last  little  jaunt  en  gar  con, 
was  the  excuse  for — 

"  A  sort  of  carnival,  which  gave  the  town  an  air  it 
usually  lacks.  .  .  .  Also  it  gave  me  the  pleasure  of 
seeing  the  Venetian  ladies  in  all  their  finery  ;  otherwise, 
I  should  have  left  without  seeing  a  single  one  of  them. 
The  jealousy  of  their  husbands  keeps  them  nearly 
always  shut  up,  and  only  at  carnival  time,  or  on  fetes, 
is  it  possible  to  see  them.  ...  I  was  surprised  at  the 
magnificence  of  these  ladies,  especially  at  the  quantity 
of  their  jewels,  for  the  rest  of  their  costume  had  some- 
thing, I  know  not  what,  rather  extraordinary,  such  as 
is  always  to  be  seen  in  the  dress  of  all  Italians.  They 
were  very  assiduous  at  the  balls  given  for  the  Prince.'" 

A  new  form  of  amusement  to  Pollnitz  was  the — 

"  Regatta,  a  race  of  little  boats,  in  four  quadrilles 
[squadrons  ?]  distinguished   by  little  flags  of  different 


254  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

colours,  each  quadrille  led  by  a  large  boat,  richly  gilt 
and  painted.  .  .  .  These  quadrilles  competed  one  against 
the  other  to  win  a  prize  awarded  to  the  one  which 
arrived  first.  The  Prince  of  Modena  seemed  very 
pleased  with  this  fete." 

Masquerades  were  more  in  fashion  in  Venice  than 
elsewhere. 

"  People  went  masked  to  the  promenade,  to  the  play, 
to  balls.  It  was  the  favourite  amusement  both  of  the 
grandees  and  of  the  populace,  and  led  to  adventures, 
and  to  making  acquaintances  which  would  otherwise 
have  been  difficult  to  pick  up  without  this  disguise." 

Pollnitz  became  acquainted  on  the  Piazza  of  S.  Mark 
with  two  ladies,  among  the  highest  in  the  land.  They 
were  masked,  and  the  Baron  wore  a  rather  voyant  rose- 
coloured  domino,  trimmed  with  silver,  a  costume  but 
little  seen  in  Venice.  It  attracted  the  attention  of  all 
the  masqueraders  in  the  square,  among  others  that  of 
these  two  ladies,  one  of  whom  pulled  him  by  the  sleeve, 
remarking : 

"  '  Mask  !  by  your  appearance,  which  surpasses  that 
of  our  cavaliers,  my  friend  and  I  know  that  you  are  a 
foreigner ;  and  we  easily  perceive  that  you  are  not  a 
common  man.  We  shall  be  delighted  to  talk  to  you, 
if  you  will  take  a  turn  on  the  Piazza  with  us.  .  .  .' 

"  '  You  do  me  more  honour  than  I  deserve,  fair 
Mask,'  I  replied,  as  I  walked,  *  and  what  you  tell  me 
about  my  appearance  flatters  me  still  more,  as  you 
yourself  are  quite  the  most  perfect  mask  here.  If  my 
costume  leads  you  to  think  that  I  am  not  a  man  of  the 
people,  your  appearance  convinces  me  that  I  have  the 
honour  to  address  ladies  of  quality.  .  .  .' 

"  '  You  are  not  mistaken,"  the  lady  replied  to  me, 

'  the  Mask  you  see  with  me  is  Madame  M ,  and  I  am 

the  wife  of  Monsieur  C .    You  see/  she  continued, 


THE  VAGRANT  255 

'  that  we  bear  names  not  unknown  in  Venice.  But,  after 
having  told  you  who  we  are,  may  we  ask  what  your 
name  is  ?  ' 

"  I  satisfied  their  curiosity  by  taking  off  my  mask, 
as  I  thought  it  due  to  their  position.  Scarcely  had  I 
mentioned  my  name  than  the  lady  to  whom  I  had  not 
yet  spoken,  said  to  me  :  '  You  are  not  such  a  stranger 
to  us  as  you  fancy  ;  your  name  is  very  well  known  to 
me,  and  the  late  Madame  Duhamel,  your  aunt,  whose 
husband  was  generalissimo  of  our  troops,  was  one  of  my 
greatest  friends,  and  often  confided  to  me  how  she 
wished  to  have  you  near  her.  This  comfort  was  denied 
her  ;  she  followed  her  husband  to  Corfu,  where  he  died, 
not  without  suspicions  that  he  had  been  poisoned.  He 
was  accused  of  being  too  good  a  Frenchman.  Your 
aunt  died  while  undergoing  quarantine  in  our  port, 
having  returned  from  Corfu  with  the  intention  of  ending 
her  days  in  Berlin.  You  bore  her  body  thither,  and 
you  were  one  of  her  heirs.  Without  wishing  to  seek  your 
gratitude,  I  will  tell  you  that  it  is  to  my  good  offices 
that  you  owe  this  inheritance  ;  I  took  your  part  against 
an  infinite  number  of  the  Marquise  Duhamel's  relations. 
The  aff'ection  I  had  for  your  aunt  led  me  to  persuade 

M.  M to  interest  himself  on  your  behalf ;    he  was 

successful,  and  induced  the  Senate  to  prefer  the  re- 
commendations of  the  King  of  Prussia  and  the  Elector  of 
Hanover,  who  were  protecting  you,  to  the  solicitations 
which  the  Ambassador  of  France  was  making  in  the 
name  of  his  master  for  the  Messieurs  Duhamel.     I  was 

delighted,'  Madame  M continued,  '  to  have  been 

able  to  do  you  this  service,  and  you  can  rely  upon  it 

that  M.  M and  I  will  always  be  deeply  interested 

in  all  those  who  belong  to  our  deceased  friend.' 

*'  I  replied  to  M.  M in  the  strain  which  the  kind 

things  she  had  said  to  me  demanded,  and  I  asked 
her  permission  to  come  and  pay  my  respects  to  her. 
She  replied  charmingly  that  she  would  send  her  husband 
to  me,  and  then,  after  that,  she  would,  with  much 
pleasure,  receive  me  at  her  house.    The  next  morning, 


256  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

as  I  was  ready  to  go  out  to  M.  M 's,  to  whom  I 

thought  I  owed  a  visit  after  the  kind  things  his  wife  had 
said  to  me,  I  was  told  that  he  was  at  my  door,  asking 
to  see  me.  I  went  to  meet  him  and  found  him  as 
civil  as  his  wife.  He  suggested  that  he  should  take 
me  to  see  some  of  the  sights  of  Venice  till  it  was  time 
to  go  to  his  wife.  We  went  to  see  some  churches  to- 
gether.    He  then  conducted  me  to  his  house,  where  I 

found  Madame  M ,  who  received  me  with  every 

possible  politeness. 

*'  She  was  a  woman  of  about  forty,  but  who  had  many 

remains  of    beauty.     With  her    was  Madame    C , 

with  whom  she  had  been  on  the  Piazza  of  S.  Mark  the 
evening  before.  I  have  never  seen  a  more  beautiful 
creature,  and  one  with  such  distinguished  manners.  She 
was  still  under  twenty,  and  had  been  married  five  years 
before  to  the  ugliest  of  men  ;  but  who  had  contrived, 
by  his  pleasant  ways,  to  make  her  love  him. 

"  I  fell  in  love  with  Madame  C directly  I  saw 

her,  and,  when  I  saw  her  husband,  I  was  presumptuous 
enough  to  imagine  that  my  attentions  might  not  be 
disagreeable  to  the  lady.  But  it  was  not  long  ere  I 
perceived  that  she  was  not  the  sort  of  woman  to  listen 
to  me ;  I  had  to  abandon  all  hope,  and,  as  hope  is  a 
lover's  only  sustenance,  I  ceased  to  be  in  love  directly 
I  had  no  more  hope.  I  cast  my  nets  in  another  direction, 
and  with  more  success. 

"  M.  M took  me  to  a  country-house  he  had  near 

Padua.  I  do  not  think  I  ever  enjoyed  myself  so  much. 
One  should  see  the  Venetians  at  these  country-houses. 
They  are  quite  different  from  what  they  are  in  the  town ; 
they  cast  off  the  grave  and  serious  manner  they  affect, 
and  live  in  better  style,  are  sociable,  polite,  well-bred. 
As  these  country-houses  are  near  each  other,  the  gentle- 
men to  whom  they  belong  visit  each  other  a  great  deal, 
and  one  is  almost  always  together.  It  is  not  quite  the 
same  in  Venice,  where  one  lives  under  more  restraint." 

Pollnitz  had  been  rowed  up  to  Padua,  through  the 


THE  VAGRANT  257 

fertile  plain,  by  the  same  gondolier  he  had  hired  during 
his  stay  in  Venice.  Says  the  local  proverb  :  "  Bologna 
la  grassa,  Padua  la  passa  "  (Bologna  is  fat,  but  Padua 
surpasses  it).  But,  during  a  hurried  visit,  it  was  chiefly 
the  diet  and  the  poor  architecture  which  struck  Pollnitz, 
though  he  thought  the  churches  fine.  He  passed  on 
to  Ferrara,  through  the  Marches  of  Padua,  the  roads 
very  bad.  With  enormous  difficulty  he  reached  Ferrara, 
where  he  took  boat,  afraid  of  the  roads  to  Bologna.  He 
left  the  latter  place  the  same  day  that  he  arrived,  reach- 
ing Modena  by  an  easy  road  through  a  pleasant  country. 

The  Baron  went  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  Duke, 
who  was  connected  by  marriage  with  the  Emperor, 
and  who  was  still  in  mourning  for  the  latter's  mother, 
the  Empress  Eleanor,  who  had  died  since  Pollnitz  left 
Vienna.  "  The  Duke  received  me  standing,''  writes  the 
Baron,  with  his  keen  eye  for  etiquette,  and  also  for  what 
was  due  to  his  rank,  "  and  directly  I  had  saluted  him  put 
on  his  hat,  and  absolutely  compelled  me  to  do  the  same. 
He  talked  for  some  time  with  much  kindness,  and  I  was 
very  well  pleased  with  my  audience." 

Modena  he  found  dirty  and  ill-paved ;  the  high 
street  the  only  passable  one.  The  Duke's  palace  was 
still  in  building,  and  a  suite  of  apartments  there  pre- 
paring for  Mademoiselle  de  Valois,  the  Regent  Orleans's 
daughter,  who  had  been  married  by  proxy  to  the 
Hereditary  Prince,  and  to  whom  it  was  intended  to  give 
a  fine  reception. 

We  hear  much  of  this  young  lady,  the  flighty  daughter 
of  a  vicious  father,  from  the  frank  pen  of  her  grand- 
mother, Madame.  How,  from  a  pretty  child,  she  grew 
up  plain,  "  with  a  great  aquiline  nose,"  which,  her 
grandmother  thought,  came  from  being  allowed  to  take 
snuff  too  early  ;  of  how,  like  her  notorious  sister,  the 
Duchesse  de  Berri,  she  continually  overate  herself  ;  of 
how,  at  seventeen,  she  had  grown  up  "  entirely  deceitful, 
rarely  truthful,  and  a  frightful  flirt,"  and  hkely  "  to 
cause  us  much  sorrow  still."  There  had  been  talk  of 
marrying  her  to  her  cousin,  the  Prince  of  Sardinia,  but 

I-17 


258  A  VAGABOKD  COURTIER 

then  came  that  "  horrible  flirtation  "  with  "  that  devil, 
the  Due  de  Richeheii,  ugly  httle  fop  ;  all  the  Paris  women 
run  after  him .  .  .  the  archidebauche,  a  good-for-nothing,  a 
coward,  false,  and  a  liar,"  boasting  of  his  amours  real  and 
imaginary.  He  had  left  the  Princess's  letters  to  him, 
making  assignations,  lying  about,  and  all  the  young 
men  had  read  them.  Next  she  wished  to  marry  her 
cousin,  the  Comte  de  Charolais,  but  that  could  not  be 
managed,  for  "  all  the  Princes  and  Princesses  of  the 
Blood,  who  are  related,  hate  each  other  like  the  devil." 
Very  averse  had  been  the  bride  to  this  Modena  match ; 
her  grandmother  pitied  her  "with  all  her  soul,"  but 
the  Prince,  a  weak,  nervous  young  man,  was  very 
pleased  with  her  portrait ;  she  had  good  eyes  and  skin, 
but  prominent  teeth,  and  a  bad  figure  and  gait,  says 
Madame ;  "  some  days  ugly,  some  days  good-looking." 
However,  the  present  of  fine  diamonds  from  Modena, 
and  the  sight  of  her  forty  new  dresses,  somewhat  com- 
forted her.  Madame  wished  the  marriage  had  taken 
place  some  years  before,  though  "  we  shall  not  die  of 
grief  when  she  leaves." 

But,  though  the  marriage  by  proxy  took  place  in  the 
late  winter,  and  Modena  was  all  agog  with  preparations 
to  receive  her,  the  bride  was  in  no  hurry  to  arrive, 
determined  to  make  the  most  of  the  small  chance  to 
travel  which  fell  to  the  lot  of  even  royal  women  in  those 
days.  She  dragged  herself,  and  the  King's  ladies  and 
gentlemen  with  her,  through  Provence,  at  great  expense, 
and  did  not  reach  Modena  till  midsummer.  "  She's 
a  scatterbrain  !  "  remarks  Madame,  heaping  all  the 
faults  of  her  granddaughters  upon  her  detested  daughter- 
in-law,  and  further  upon  the  latter's  mother,  the  more 
detested  Montespan. 

One  caimot  help  wondering  if,  in  Pollnitz's  "  satis- 
factory audience "  with  Mademoiselle's  prospective 
father-in-law,  the  conversation  turned  upon  the  bride. 
He  had  known  her  as  a  girl,  had  been  in  Paris  during 
all  the  Richelieu  scandal.  But  the  Baron  was  nothing 
if  not  tactful ;  the  audience  was  "  satisfactory,"  though 


THE  VAGRANT  259 

he  prophesied  no  happy  future  for  this  hare-brained 
young  woman  at  Modena. 

"  She  will  need  all  her  cleverness  to  make  something 
of  her  life  at  the  Court  of  Modena.  For  nothing  can  be 
quieter ;  one  may  even  say  that  one  breathes  there  an 
air  which  conduces  to  melancholy,  especially  when  one 
comes  from  so  brilliant  a  Court  as  that  of  France.  The 
life  here  is  like  life  in  a  monastery.  One  rises  very  early, 
one  goes  to  mass,  one  dines  early,  one  goes  for  a  turn 
after  dinner,  in  the  evening  one  plays  for  a  little  while, 
one  sups  at  eight,  and  by  ten  one  is  in  bed.  At  least 
that  was  the  ordinary  way  of  life  of  the  Court,  any- 
how when  I  was  there ;  perhaps  the  arrival  of  the  Prin- 
cess may  change  somewhat  the  boring  monotony  of 
existence.'' 

Pollnitz's  forebodings  were  true.  Madame  writes, 
eighteen  months  after  the  marriage,  that  the  Princess 
wandered  from  room  to  room  all  day  long,  exclaiming  : 
"  Ah !  que  je  m'ennuis  !  Ah  !  que  je  m'ennuis  ici !  " 
But  she  was  getting  on  better  with  her  husband  than 
at  first. 

After  Modena  the  Baron  spent  three  days  at  Parma. 
He  notes  that  "  connoisseurs  make  much  of  the  pictures 
in  the  cathedral."  He  found  the  nobility  numerous,  but 
"  so  Italian  that  it  was  difficult  to  get  on  with  them.'* 
The  Court  "  was  no  gayer  than  that  of  Modena,"  but 
Pollnitz,  with  an  eye  to  the  Spanish  journey  he  planned, 
did  not  fail  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  Duke  Francesco 
Farnese,  who,  "  by  a  dispensation  of  which  the  Catholic 
Church  gives  few  examples,  had  married  his  brother's 
widow,"  whose  daughter,  by  her  first  husband,  was 
Elizabeth,  Queen  of  Spain. 

By  Piacenza,  "  almost  a  desert,  no  one  in  the  streets,'* 
to  Milan,  where  he  spent  a  sociable  time.  The  nobility 
lived  in  grand  style,  in  fine  houses,  richly  furnished — 

"  Rooms  with  a  grand  and  noble  air,  such  as  the 
Italians  do  not  generally  pride  themselves  upon.    People 


260  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

of  quality  have  plenty  of  society  ;  an  assembly  every 
evening  at  different  houses,  where  one  enjoys  great 
liberty.  Each  one  does  what  he  likes ;  some  talk,  some 
play  ;  after  cards  a  supper  together,  and  sometimes 
a  ball  follows  ...  a  very  agreeable  place  to  stay  in. 
I  omitted  to  mention  one  of  the  best  qualities  of  the 
Milanese :  they  are  not  at  all  jealous.  I  do  not  know 
how  it  is  that  they  manage  to  avoid  one  of  the  chief 
Italian  characteristics." 

By  Caserta  the  Baron  moved  on  to  the  Court  of  Victor 
Amadeus,  the  first  King  of  Sardinia.  His  wife  was 
Madame 's  step-daughter.  Both  their  daughters,  the 
Queen  of  Spain,  the  first  wife  of  Philip  V,  and  the  charm- 
ing Duchess  of  Burgundy,  such  a  short  time  Dauphine, 
were  now  dead. 

The  Baron  paid  assiduous  court  to  all  the  Royal 
Family,  and  was  very  well  received  by  them.  Especially 
was  he  struck  with  the  Princess  of  Carignano,  wife  of 
the  first  Prince  of  the  Blood,  and  a  daughter  of 
Louis  XIV,  who  was  very  gracious  to  him,  but  left 
soon  after  his  arrival  to  join  her  husband  in  Paris.  The 
Court  at  Turin  was  not  dull.  Cercle  at  six  or  seven, 
in  full  court  dress  in  the  Queen's  apartments,  then  at 
the  Queen-mother's,  Madame  Royale.  After  that  the 
nobility  assembled  at  the  Princess  de  Villafranca's  for 
play — many  tables  of  ombre,  lansquenet,  etc. 

"  I  was  very  lucky  at  play,  as  indeed  I  had  been 
during  the  whole  of  my  Italian  journey.  I  paid  the 
expenses  of  that  journey  entirely  by  play,  so  that  when 
I  crossed  the  mountains  I  had  still  some  two  hundred 
pistoles  in  my  pocket  to  the  good.'' 

There  were  many  foreigners  at  Turin,  in  the  King's 
service.  The  lieutenant-general  of  the  army  was 
Count  Schulemburg,  whom  Pollnitz  had  known  at 
Dresden. 


THE  VAGRANT  261 

"  The  young  men  here  seem  less  frivolous  than  else- 
where. I  do  not  know  if  they  are  any  wiser,  but  they 
seem  to  be,  at  least  in  public.  Had  I  any  advice  to  give 
the  father  of  a  family,  it  would  be  to  send  his  sons  here 
to  the  Academy  ;  I  doubt  if  there  is  a  better  one  in 
Europe,  as  much  on  account  of  the  fencing-master  as  for 
the  way  in  which  the  young  men  are  managed.  They 
are  lodged,  fed,  and  taught  in  every  kind  of  science  and 
exercises.  They  are  divided  into  two  classes  :  one  only 
studies  law ;  these  pay  less  ;  but  all  must  be  gentlemen. 
They  are  only  allowed  out  once  a  week,  on  a  certain  day ; 
but  they  may  go  to  Court,  or  go  anywhere,  except  into 
the  gambling-houses." 

This  hardly  seems  to  fall  into  line  with  Pollnitz's 
self-confessed  gambling  propensities ;  but  we  must  re- 
member that,  at  the  period,  a  line  was  drawn  between 
public  gambling  and  card-playing  in  society,  though 
the  stakes  at  the  latter  were  often  enormous.  Gambling 
in  society  was  considered  a  pastime,  and  not  a  vice. 

Daily  the  Baron  promenaded  on  the  Esplanade, 
between  the  city  and  the  Citadel — 

"  Where  there  were  very  fine  avenues,  and  one  often 
met  very  pretty  people.  The  air  here  is  exceeding 
good,  and  all  the  fair  Piedmontese  are  very  lively  and 
are  born  with  much  intelligence.  I  was  very  sorry  to 
leave  them,  but  it  is  a  necessary  evil ,  one  needs  must 
when  the  order  is  pressing." 

The  Baron  tells  the  story  of  an  adventure  that  made 
much  stir  at  the  Sardinian  Court.  The  lover  of  a  very 
beautiful  maid  of  honour  was  in  despair  at  being 
repulsed,  and  threatened  to  kill  himself.  "  Well, 
Monsieur,  do  so  !  "  she  exclaimed.     "  I  don't  care  !  " 

So  he  determined  to  give  her  a  fright.  Hurrying  from 
her  presence,  he  bought  a  bladder  full  of  blood,  and 
secreted  it  under  his  shirt.  Then  he  returned  to  plead 
his  cause  once  more.    Upon  receiving  the  same  reply, 


262  A  VAGABOND  COUETIEE 

he  again  exclaimed  :  "  You  want  to  kill  me,  Made- 
moiselle !     Then  I  will  satisfy  you  !  " 

And,  plunging  his  sword  through  the  bladder,  fell  as 
if  dead. 

The  young  lady  screamed  for  help,  terrified  at  the 
blood.  But  the  young  man,  when  they  raised  him, 
showed  no  signs  that  the  sacrifice  he  had  made  cost 
him  much.  What  was  far  worse  for  him  was  that 
Madame  Royale  was  immediately  informed,  and  had  the 
young  man  taught  a  lesson  of  how  to  behave  in  her 
anteroom,  by  having  him  shut  up  in  a  castle  near  Turin 
for  two  years. 

Paris-ward  bound,  the  Baron  approached,  by  way  of 
Susa,  in  fear  and  trembling,  "  the  terrible  Mont  Cenis,'' 
and  prepared  to  cross  it.     The  day  following — 

"  I  had  my  post-chaise  taken  to  pieces,  and,  with  my 
boxes,  loaded  on  mules  ;  then  I  seated  myself  in  a  sort 
of  arm-chair,  and  two  men,  relieved  from  time  to  time 
by  two  others,  carried  me  over  in  five  hours.  When 
I  reached  the  summit  of  the  mountain  I  halted,  hoping 
to  see  a  great  stretch  of  country ;  but  the  only  view 
was  of  a  fine  meadow  and  a  large  lake,  and  fields,  which 
afford  excellent  pasturage.  On  the  top  of  Mont  Cenis 
there  was  also  an  inn,  where  the  muleteers  and  porters 
refreshed  themselves.  It  is  the  most  dismal  spot  in 
the  world  ;  and  is  really  in  the  midst  of  a  frightful 
desert,  always  covered  with  snow  for  at  least  nine 
months  of  the  year.  One  thing  must  be  noted,  that, 
in  the  midst  of  such  a  solitude,  and  surrounded  by 
people  one  does  not  know,  one  never  has  anything 
stolen." 

At  Lansleburg  the  Baron's  chaise  was  put  together 
again,  as  the  coach  road  began,  and  he  drove  to  Cham- 
bery. 

*'  The  road  is  buried  in  mountains  and  rocks,  and  one 
sees  precipices  that  give  one  a  fright.    There  are  indeed 


THE  VAGKANT  263 

railings,  but  these  are  so  slight  that  they  could  not  stop 
a  chaise.  I  saw  a  cart  drawn  by  four  horses  fall  over 
one  of  these  precipices  ;  the  horses  were  killed,  and  the 
cart  and  its  entire  load,  which  consisted  of  china  and 
mirrors  belonging  to  the  Princess  of  Carignano,  broken 
in  pieces.  The  driver,  though  the  loss  of  his  cart  was 
not  his  fault,  wanted  to  kill  himself ;  he  drew  his  knife 
and  was  about  to  stab  himself,  if  my  postillion  and 
others  had  not  prevented  him  doing  so.'* 

Chambery,  the  capital  of  Savoy,  PoUnitz  found  a 
pleasant  old  town,  with  many  nobles,  who,  though 
impecunious,  kept  a  good  table,  and  were  sociable. 
The  ladies  were  beautiful,  the  men  well  made,  and  the 
common  people  quiet  and  polite,  and  "  on  the  whole, 
the  Savoyards  are  nice  folk.  They  are,  indeed,  accused 
of  being  too  economical .  .  .  but  when,  with  small  means, 
you  have  to  keep  up  your  position,  you  must  do  the 
best  you  can  with  your  housekeeping." 

The  Baron  went  on  to  Geneva,  and  was  very  in- 
terested in  the  little  Republic,  "  mistress,  as  it  thinks 
itself,  of  its  lake,  as  Venice  of  the  Adriatic  !  .  .  .  and 
existing  by  virtue  of  the  jealousy  of  the  neighbouring 
sovereigns,''  yet  maintaining  fortifications,  arsenal, 
militia — all  useless,  he  thought,  if  one  of  these  rulers  did 
really  attack  the  city,  and  another  did  not  come  to  its 
assistance.  As  to  the  houses,  furniture,  and  stuffs, 
there  was  even  a  decree  of  the  Senate  which  forbade  the 
using  of  gold  on  them,  "  apparently  in  fear  lest  the 
luxury  which  ruined  the  old  Roman  Republic  should 
cause  a  similar  decadence  in  this  little  State.  ...  In 
matters  of  religion  the  Genevese  are  very  careful  to 
tolerate  no  other  sect  than  the  Reformed  Religion."' 
As  for  the  merchants,  the  Baron  has  not  a  good  word 
to  say  for  them,  for  he  had  a  little  difficulty  with  one 
who  had  been  pointed  out  to  him  as  the  most  important 
of  his  class,  but  who  gave  him  "  a  poor  opinion  of  their 
honesty.'' 

When   he   was  leaving  Geneva  he  had  some  four 


264  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

hundred  pistoles  in  old,  or  Spanish  money,  which  was 
not  allowed  to  pass  in  France.  He  was  advised  to  get 
rid  of  these  in  exchange  for  a  bill  on  Lyons.  With 
"  the  most  honest  banker  in  Geneva,"  to  whom  he  had 
been  sent,  he  stipulated  that,  under  no  circumstances 
whatever,  should  he  be  paid  in  paper  money  in  Lyons, 
as  notes  had  already  much  depreciated.  The  banker 
gave  a  verbal  promise  in  reply  to  this  appeal,  and  added 
that,  should  the  Lyons  banker  refuse  to  convert  the  bill 
of  exchange  into  hard  cash,  he  would  do  so  himself  if 
Pollnitz  returned  it  to  him. 

The  Baron  believed  his  word,  and  started  with  but  a 
little  cash  for  the  travelling  expenses.  On  reaching 
Lyons  the  banker  there  refused  to  pay  him  except  in 
notes,  saying  that  he  was  in  no  way  bound  by  the  ar- 
rangement the  other  in  Geneva  had  made.  So  Pollnitz 
returned  the  bill  of  exchange  to  Geneva,  as  he  had 
settled. 

"  It  was  such  a  long  time  before  any  reply  came  that 
I  thought  I  was  on  the  way  to  lose  both  notes  and  coin, 
and  was,  in  consequence,  in  rather  a  sad  predicament,  as 
the  small  sum  I  had  kept  for  my  journey  to  Lyons  was 
soon  spent.  But,  at  the  end  of  three  weeks,  the  Geneva 
banker  returned  his  bill  of  exchange,  denying  that 
he  had  ever  arranged  to  pay  it  except  in  currency, 
which  was  notes." 

Pollnitz  had  to  make  the  best  of  a  bad  bargain,  took 
the  notes,  and  started  for  Paris  by  post. 


CHAPTER   XVIII 

**  During  the  ministry  of  Law,"  writes  a  contemporary, 
*'  there  have  been  nothing  but  notorious  and  arrant 
cheatings,  a  general  upheaval  of  the  State,  and  the 
ruin  of  nearly  all  the  private  bonds.  ...  It  is  a  game  of 
thimble-rig  which  lasted  two  years,  in  order  to  draw  all 
the  money  of  the  kingdom  into  the  royal  coffers." 

The  slump  had  come  in  Paris,  and  that  in  spite  of  the 
Regent's  bolstering  up  of  Law.  In  eight  months  he 
had  issued  thirty-eight  decrees  arbitrarily  fixing  the 
value  of  the  billet  d'etat.  But  he  could  not  stave  off 
the  catastrophe. 

Madame  grew  uneasy. 

**  The  Regent  gave  another  large  sum  of  money,  but 
financial  difficulties  are  rife.  The  offices  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Company  are  crowded  with  shareholders  anxious 
to  turn  their  paper  into  gold.  They  are  suspicious  of 
notes,  though  only  a  few  weeks  before  they  had  realized 
enormous  sums  by  speculations  in  this  same  paper." 

In  May  1720  she  writes  that— 

"  The  Regent  issued  a  decree  to  restrain  the  panic, 
but  which  only  increased  it;  also  the  feeling  of  inse- 
curity, for  it  reduced  the  Mississippi  shares  and  bank- 
notes to  half  their  nominal  value.  The  population 
hates  Law." 

A  week  later — 

"  My  son  has  been  obliged  to  withdraw  Law  from  his 
post.    Once  that  man  was  looked  upon  as  a  god,  now 

3.65 


266  A  VAGABOND  COUBTIEE 

his  life  is  hardly  safe,  and  they  have  been  obliged  to 
give  him  a  company  of  the  Guards  to  protect  him  from 
the  fury  of  the  mob.  .  .  .  The  goldsmiths  decline  to  work, 
and  sell  all  their  goods  at  three  times  their  proper  value 
because  of  the  bank-note  business.  I  have  often  wished 
that  a  big  bonfire  could  be  made  of  these  notes,  for  they 
are  a  cause  of  great  trouble  to  my  son,  and  it  would  be 
impossible  to  explain  to  you  all  the  mischief  they  have 
wrought  in  this  country.  .  .  .  According  to  the  universal 
rumours  everything  is  going  on  as  badly  here  as  possible. 
I  wish  that  Law  and  his  system  were  with  the  devil, 
and  that  he  had  never  set  foot  in  France."" 

In  the  middle  of  July  the  Bank  suspended  payment 
after  several  days'  run.  The  Regent  revoked  the 
decree,  "  but  the  people  were  angry  with  him  for  the 
edict."  Her  ladies  came  rushing  in  to  Madame  a  few 
days  later,  to  tell  her  that  the  mob  had  invaded  the 
gardens  of  the  Palais  Royal,  bringing  with  them  the 
bodies  of  three  men  trampled  to  death  in  front  of  the 
Bank  during  the  run.  Law  had  to  fly  in  disguise,  his 
coach  smashed  up.  Madame,  at  S.  Cloud,  received 
letters  threatening  to  burn  the  Palais  Royal.  "  My 
son  was  much  beloved.  Since  the  advent  of  that 
accursed  Law  he  has  been  hated."' 

It  was  to  this  state  of  things  that  Pollnitz  returned 
in  the  summer.  The  notes  went  down  daily.  Law 
had  scattered  eight  millions'  worth  of  paper  among  the 
public  ;  it  was  more  than  the  Bank  had  in  cash.  The 
Regent  had,  indeed,  paid  off  one  billion  of  debts,  but 
France  was  ruined. 

"  It  was  now,"  writes  Pollnitz,  "  that  the  term  *  to 
realize  '  became  the  favourite  catchword  of  the  time  .  .  . 
most  private  people  tried  to  change  their  notes,  not 
for  money,  which  seemed  to  have  hidden  itself  in  the 
bowels  of  the  earth,  but  for  real  articles  ;  some  bought 
diamonds,  some  silver  plate,  others  goods  ;  in  short, 
the  most  prudent  got  rid  of  their  paper.    Nobles  became 


THE  VAGRANT  267 

mercliants.  The  Due  de  la  Force  opened  a  large  shop 
of  coffee,  candles,  groceries,  and  the  like,  to  sell  again.  . . . 
In  this  crisis  of  the  reduction  of  notes  I  reached  Paris. 
This  city  was  then  like  a  wood  in  which  one  only  hears 
talk  of  robbers  and  murders.  Indeed,  the  ease  with 
which  many  people  carry  their  fortune  in  their  pocket- 
book  is  a  great  temptation  to  thieves.  Madame  writes 
of  the  "  disordered  life  of  Paris,  every  day  more  horrible 
and  detestable.  Every  time  it  thunders  I  tremble  for 
this  city." 

A  story  is  told  of  how  the  depreciation  of  the  shares 
obsessed  every  one.  A  doctor  was  called  to  the  bedside 
of  a  sick  lady.  As  he  sat  there  some  one  remarked  that 
the  Mississippi  shares  had  fallen  still  lower.  Now  the 
doctor  held  a  great  many,  and  was  so  startled  that, 
even  when  feeling  his  patient's  pulse,  he  kept  muttering 
to  himself  :    "  Going  down,  down,  down  !  " 

The  poor  woman  began  to  moan,  "  So  I  am  surely 
dying,  doctor  ?  " 

But  the  doctor  awoke  from  his  reverie,  looked  up,  and 
said  :  "  Your  pulse  is  regular.  I  was  thinking  of  the 
Mississippi  shares  !  " 

Yet,  despite  the  lack  of  money,  luxury,  dissipation, 
gambling  had  reached  their  extreme  height  and  "  the 
young  profligates  went  to  the  most  frightful  excess  in 
order  to  seize  something  to  satisfy  them.'"  The  murder, 
for  filthy  lucre,  by  a  young  Count  Horn,  of  very  dis- 
tinguished family,  of  a  poor  clerk  who  earned  his  living 
by  jobbing  shares,  threw  a  lurid  light  on  the  depravity 
of  Paris.  The  Regent  refused  to  pardon  Horn,  and  he 
and  his  accomplices  were  executed. 

The  appearance  of  the  plague  at  Marseilles  added 
another  disaster  to  poor  France.  The  Baron  was  at 
the  Regent's  levee  when  the  announcement  of  the  bad 
news  spread  consternation  among  the  Duke's  boon 
companions  and  cronies,  the  due  de  Saint-Simon,  the 
Cardinal  de  Polignac,  the  Marquis  de  Nesle,  the  Abbe 
de  Grancy,  his  chaplain,  d'Effiat,  and  de  Conflans. 


268  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

But  the  scare  "  was  soon  forgotten,"  writes  the  Baron, 
"  and  people  gave  themselves  up  more  than  ever  to 
pleasure,  good  living,  gallantrv,  and  so  on.  Only  gamb- 
ling seemed  to  suffer  a  little,  because  ready  money  was 
necessary  for  it,  notes  having  only  a  fictitious  value.  .  .  . 
As  for  business,  if  notes  were  refused  there  Avas  no  sale  ; 
so  either  alternative  was  ruinous  to  trade." 

Pollnitz  passed  the  worst  of  this  terrible  time  at  a 
friend's  country-house  near  Orleans,  and  suffered  but 
vicariously  from  the  appalling  state  of  things.  He  only 
returned  to  Paris  to  prepare  for  his  journey  to  Spain, 
and  went  by  way  of  Lyons  and  Languedoc,  in  order  to 
pay  visits  to  different  friends  on  their  estates,  passing 
from  Lyons  to  Vienne,  and  then  over  the  Rhone  again 
by  the  Vivarez  to  a  chateau  near  Nimes,  where  he 
stayed  a  month,  "  and  saw  the  famous  arena  which  is 
the  precious  remains  of  Roman  antiquity."  (Is  he 
alluding  to  that  at  Aries  ?) 

Thence  he  went  to  Montpellier.  People  had  just 
begun  to  discover  the  Sunny  South,  the  Cote  d'Azur. 
The  Baron  spent  some  time  at  this  fashionable  place, 
the  forerunner  of  the  Riviera  health  resorts,  "  in  my 
opinion  one  of  the  most  agreeable  cities  of  the  Kingdom, 
and  the  one  in  which,  after  Paris,  there  is  the  most 
heau-monde."  He  found  it  charmingly  situated,  not 
far  from  the  sea,  surrounded  by  very  fertile  valleys, 
which  make  pretty  views  ;  the  houses  ill-built,  but 
inside  very  clean  and  well  furnished.  The  streets  were 
so  narrow  as  to  be  difficult  for  carriages,  and  our  Baron 
was  carried  about  in  a  sedan-chair,  and  admired  the 
beautiful  environs,  the  promenades  on  the  sea-shore, 
in  the  tree-shaded  square,  and  on  the  terrace  under  the 
great  equestrian  statue  of  Louis  XIV. 

Of  Beziers  he  quotes  the  local  saying  :  "If  God 
wished  to  choose  a  dwelling-place  on  earth.  He  would 
chose  Beziers."  He  had  heard  that  the  aristocracy 
were  renowned  for  having  more  mind  and  better 
manners  than  those  anywhere  else.  But  the  Baron's 
experience  in  different  Courts  of  people  who  bailed 


THE  VAGRANT  269 

from  Beziers  gave  him  another  opinion,  "  for  they  were 
indeed  the  most  frivolou.s  in  the  world." 

By  Castelnaudry  he  went  to  Toulouse,  pleased  with 
Languedoc,  "  no  province  in  France  pleasanter  to 
travel  in,"  fine  roads,  and  good  inns,  well  supplied,  and 
very  reasonable.  The  streets  of  their  capital  were  very 
ill-kept,  but  the  Toulaisians  very  witty,  "  though,  un- 
fortunately, they  know  it,  which  is  a  pity  for  them." 
Polite  to  strangers,  Pollnitz  had  never  been  better 
entertained  at  table ;  *'  they  all  had  cheerful  sallies." 
As  with  the  Irish,  probably, — 

''  The  accent  of  the  dialect,  especially  among  the 
women,  gives  a  certain  charm  to  all  they  say,  and  makes 
the  commonest  remarks  seem  witty.  The  little  songs 
and  ballads  are  also  racy ;  every  one  makes  them,  and, 
if  these  are  not  equally  good,  they  are  always  quite  as 
well  received  by  reason  of  the  knack  displayed  in 
making  them  appreciated." 

Then  on  to  Pan.  At  that  day  it  consisted  of  but  one 
long  street,  with  the  very  old  castle  at  the  end,  and  out- 
side the  gates  on  that  side  a  thick  wood  on  a  terrace, 
which  formed  a  magnificent  promenade  with  views  of 
the  Pyrenees,  and  of  a  wide  valley  divided  by  a  beauti- 
ful river,  and  strewn  with  villages. 

Then,  by  diligence,  over  bad  roads,  with  detestable 
inns,  Pollnitz  passed  to  the  Spanish-looking  old  city 
of  Bayonne. 

His  first  care  on  arrival  was  to  call  upon  the  Com- 
mandant, a  French  Canadian,  of  the  King's  Normandy 
regiment,  who  had  been  rapidly  promoted  by  the  E-egent 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war  with  Spain.  As  he  was  not 
at  Bayonne  at  the  time,  the  Baron  was  civilly  received 
by  his  deputy,  one  Dadoncourt,  appointed  by  the 
Regent  as  a  man  he  could  rely  upon.  Pollnitz  informed 
him  that  he  meditated  crossing  into  Spain,  and  Dadon- 
court informed  him  that  he  could  do  as  he  pleased,  and 
that  he  saw  no  hindrance  to  his  going.  The  next  day 
he  called  on  the  Baron,  and  invited  him  to  dinner. 


270  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

The  company  did  not  seem  well  assorted,  and  there 
was  conversation  which  displeased  Pollnitz  very  much. 
At  his  first  meeting  with  Dadoncourt  Pollnitz  had 
spoken  to  him  of  a  visit  he  had  paid  to  the  Comte  de 
S ,  in  Languedoc.  During  dinner  Dadoncourt  re- 
ferred to  this  visit  more  than  once,  and  confessed  that 

he  was  much  surprised  that  the  Regent  had  set  S 

at  liberty,  instead  of  cutting  off  his  head  as  he  deserved. 

" '  Yes,  indeed,'  he  added,  with  a  vehemence  to 
which  I  think  wine  had  contributed  not  a  little,  '  His 
Royal  Highness  has  been  too  lenient ;  all  the  swine 
who  had  dared  to  wallow  in  the  affair  of  Prince  Cella- 
mare  ought  to  have  had  their  heads  cut  ofi  !  ' 

"  I  was  much  astonished  at  the  man's  vehemence, 
and  gently  pointed  out  to  him  that  the  Regent  had  dis- 
played a  great  deal  of  prudence  in  his  conduct,  and 
that  it  would  have  been  too  cruel  to  kill  people  of 
position,  whose  blood  would,  perhaps,  have  found  an 
avenger. 

"  '  Well,  Monsieur,'  he  replied,  '  what  could  they  have 
done  ?  The  Due  d'Orleans  was  sure  of  his  troops,  his 
fortresses,  every  one  would  certainly  have  taken  his 
part  in  the  provinces  ;  I  myself  should  have  hung  the 
first  gentleman  who  stirred.' 

"  Seeing  that  I  had  to  do  with  a  redoubtable  satellite, 
and  moreover  perceiving  that  he  was  in  his  cups,  I 
left  him  free  scope  to  exaggerate  the  devotion  that  he 
pretended  to  have  for  the  Regent,  promising  myself 
not  to  see  any  more  of  a  man  with  such  sanguinary 
sentiments." 

After  dinner  Pollnitz  proceeded  to  an  audience  with 
the  Dowager  Queen  of  Spain,  the  widow  of  Charles  II 
and  sister  of  his  jovial  host  at  Heidelberg,  the  Elector 
Palatine,  and  of  the  late  Empress  Eleanor.  During  her 
husband's  last  years  she  had  worked  zealously  for  the 
German  succession  to  the  throne  of  Spain,  as  against 
that  of  France.    When  she  had  finally  been  worsted, 


THE  VAGEANT  271 

and  Louis  XIV  was  sending  his  grandson  Philip  to  take 
possession  of  the  Spanish  Crown,  the  wise  old  monarch, 
in  the  instructions  he  drew  up  for  the  young  King's 
guidance,  had  specially  warned  him  against  Maria 
Anna  and  her  intrigues. 

"  Have  no  dealing  with  the  Queen-Dowager  that  you 
can  avoid.  Arrange  that  she  leaves  Madrid,  but  does 
not  quit  Spain.  Whatever  place  she  may  be  in,  have 
her  conduct  watched,  and  prevent  her  meddling  in  any 
business.  Suspect  all  who  have  any  dealings  with 
her." 

When  Elizabeth  Farnese  had  come  to  Spain  seven 
years  before,  Maria  Anna  went  from  Bayonne  to  Pau 
to  meet  the  niece  who  was  to  sit  upon  the  throne  from 
which  fate  had  driven  her,  a  childless  widow.  Though 
poor  and  in  exile,  she  had  brought  the  bride  an  offering 
of  pearls  and  diamonds  and  a  magnificent  carriage. 
Perhaps  she  hoped,  through  Elizabeth's  influence,  to 
be  permitted  to  return  to  Spain.  "  The  two  Queens 
spent  a  pleasant  twelve  days  together,"  Elizabeth  in  no 
hurry  to  meet  the  uxorious,  jealous  Philip,  who  was 
to  treat  her  like  a  prisoner.  Aunt  and  niece  "  hunted 
and  danced  together,  they  slept  in  the  same  room  at 
uncomfortably  close  quarters  ;  the  old  Queen  would 
sing,  while  her  niece  played  the  clavecin."  No  doubt 
they  discussed  the  political  situation,  and  the  necessity 
of  ousting  from  her  position  of  chief  favourite  and 
virtual  ruler  of  Spain,  Madame  des  Ursins,  who  had 
been  instrumental  in  keeping  Maria  Anna  in  exile. 
The  Dowager  saw  her  niece  as  far  as  the  frontier. 

"  EHzabeth  Farnese  has  been  criticized  for  not  allow- 
ing her  aunt  to  return  to  Spain.  Leave  was  more  than 
once  granted,  and,  according  to  the  custom,  certain 
towns  assigned  as  a  residence.  But  she  was  never 
satisfied  with  the  suggestions  of  others,  and  was  one  of 
those  unhappy,  middle-aged  ladies  whom  nobody 
wants.     Between    Elizabeth,    her    mother    and    her 


272  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEB 

aunt,  there  is  much  acrimonious  correspondence  upon 
the  subject,  and  the  Duke  of  Parma  is  pathetic  in  his 
terror  at  her  design  of  retiring  to  his  capital.  The 
widow  of  Charles  II  had  not  borne  a  good  name  in 
Spain  ;  and  she  seemed  ultimately  to  have  consoled 
herself  by  marrying  secretly  a  French  commercial 
traveller.     Yet  she  was  a  kindly,  hospitable  soul.  .  .  .'* 

Ehzabeth  Farnese,  having  ousted,  not  only  Madame 
des  Ursins,  but  also  Cardinal  Alberoni,  to  whom  she 
owed  her  crown,  reigned  supreme  in  Spain,  fighting 
the  Emperor  and  the  French  for  her  children's  interests 
with  the  tenacity  and  the  fury  of  a  tigress.  Maria 
Anna  had,  of  course,  been  in  the  opposite  camp,  a  close 
correspondent  of  "  Madame  "  her  kinswoman,  worrying 
the  latter  "  with  commissions,  compliments,  and  peti- 
tions for  bishoprics  and  captaincies  of  the  guards, 
pensions,  and  abbeys  for  her  favourites.  But  she 
worked  for  the  good  understanding  of  my  son  with  the 
King  of  Spain." 

For  the  last  nine  years  the  poor  Dowager  had  lived 
at  Bayonne,  under  the  eye  of  the  French,  and  not 
allowed  either  to  return  to  Madrid  or  to  go  back  to  her 
native  land.  Pollnitz  found  her  in  her  palace,  "  which 
was  nothing  more  than  a  rather  poor  house.'^  The 
equerry  took  him  to  a  waiting-room,  whence  he  was 
conducted  to  the  Duchess  of  Liguares,  the  Queen's  lady- 
in-waiting,  who  was  very  civil,  but,  as  she  could  only 
speak  Spanish,  conversation  was  impossible.  She  could 
but  make  signs,  and  the  Baron  reply  by  many  bows. 
Happily,  each  was  rid  of  the  other  by  Pollnitz  being 
ushered  into  the  Queen's  presence. 

She  was  dressed  in  black,  in  Spanish  fashion,  and 
received  the  Baron  standing,  alone  in  her  room,  though 
divers  maids  of  honour,  also  in  mantillas,  peeped  through 
the  half-open  door. 

The  Queen  was  very  gracious  to  Pollnitz,  and  evi- 
dently was  delighted  to  meet  a  German  so  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  native  land  she  had  always  loved, 


THE  VAGRANT  273 

and  with  so  many  of  her  relations.  She  asked  for  news 
of  the  Elector  and  of  the  Princes,  her  brothers,  and 
Pollnitz  was  able  to  give  her  plenty.  After  an  audience 
which,  lasting  over  an  hour,  must  have  been  a  welcome 
break  to  the  poor,  proud,  lonely  old  lady,  eating  her 
heart  out  in  monotonous  semi-captivity,  he  was  dis 
missed,  and  kneeling,  kissed,  according  to  Spanish 
custom,  the  Queen's  hands. 

Next  day,  and  for  several  days  after,  Pollnitz  paid 
his  respects  to  Maria  Anna,  sometimes  when  she  went 
to  mass  at  the  Capuchins'  convent,  or  at  that  of  the 
Franciscans,  where  she  attended  Benediction  every 
afternoon,  and  sometimes  in  a  garden  behind  the  house, 
where  she  walked  after  dinner.  She  always  talked  to 
him  with  "  a  dehghtful  kindness  and  familiarity,  very 
pleased  to  be  quit  of  ceremonial  as  uncomfortable  for 
her  as  for  those  admitted  to  her  audience." 

One  day  she  asked  him  if  he  was  not  surprised  to  see 
her  so  badly  lodged,  and  with  so  poor  a  household.  He 
confessed  he  had  been  a  little  surprised  that  she  had 
not  chosen  the  old  castle  in  the  town,  which  looked 
more  like  a  palace  than  the  house  she  was  in. 

*'  But,"  she  repHed,  "  I  have  got  used  to  my  little 
home,  and  I  cannot  make  up  my  mind  to  leave  it.  I 
retired  here  during  the  troubles  between  the  House  of 
Austria  and  France,  in  order  not  to  be  obliged  to  see 
so  many  people,  which  I  must  have  done  had  I  in- 
habited the  castle.  Every  one  coming  to  France,  or  to 
Spain  would,  no  doubt,  have  asked  to  see  me  ;  all  these 
visits  would  infallibly  have  given  umbrage  to  one  of  the 
two  Parties,  and  perhaps  to  both,  and  I  had  good 
reasons  to  keep  on  good  terms  with  them." 

On  another  occasion  Pollnitz  spoke  of  Spain  and 
Germany,  and  took  the  liberty  to  inquire  why  the 
Queen  had  chosen  to  stay  at  Bayonne  rather  than  in 
either  of  these  countries,  where  she  would  have  had 
more  power,  and  have  been  attended  by  a  larger  number 
of  people  of  position. 

I— 18 


274  A  VAGABOND  COUBTIER 

"  As  for  people  of  position/'  replied  the  Queen,  "  I 
do  not  care  much  about  them.  For  royalty  all  men  are 
equal ;  they  are  only  great  the  nearer  they  are  to  us, 
and  in  proportion  as  we  honour  them  with  our  trust. 
A  man  you  call  a  nobody,  if  I  give  him  to-morrow  an 
appointment  and  admit  him  to  my  service,  is,  in  my 
eyes,  as  great  a  lord  as  if  his  forefathers  had  held  the 
same  employment  all  their  lives.  As  for  living  in 
Spain  or  Germany,  I  have  strong  reasons  against  it. 
In  Spain,  I  should  be  obliged  to  go  into  a  convent, 
which  I  should  much  dislike.  In  Germany,  I  should, 
indeed,  be  among  my  own  family,  but  the  Court  of 
Spain  would,  perhaps,  dislike  my  being  there,  and 
would  make  trouble  about  my  jointure,  which  I  am 
very  glad  to  keep.'' 

Pollnitz  thought  that,  beside  these  reasons,  her  long 
stay  at  Bayonne  had  made  her  like  the  place,  and  that 
this  sort  of  solitude  pleased  her  better  than  a  large 
Court,  "  where  Princes  and  courtiers  often  bore  each 
other  mutually." 

The  air  of  freedom  about  this  little  Court,  and  the 
kindness  of  the  Queen  in  conversing  with  him  so  often, 
induced  Pollnitz,  to  his  undoing,  to  defer  his  departure 
for  Spain  from  day  to  day.  However,  at  last  he  seri- 
ously made  up  his  mind  to  start.  All  was  ready,  he 
had  but  to  take  leave  of  the  Queen,  when  an  incident 
occurred  which  made  him  hate  his  stay  at  Bayonne  as 
much  as  he  had  hitherto  enjoyed  it.  Some  jokes  he 
had  imprudently  made  drew  down  upon  him  the  wrath 
of  the  Commandant,  who  took  advantage  of  a  specious 
pretext  to  avenge  himself. 

The  Queen  was  under  the  thumb  of  a  woman  named 
Laborde,  '*  of  somewhat  free  manners,"  the  widow  of 
a  shopkeeper,  but  who  had  since  secretly  married  the 
Queen's  major-domo.  This  woman  had  wormed  herself 
into  the  favour  of  Maria  Anna,  who  saw  her  daily. 
She  allowed  her  to  be  seated  in  her  presence,  which  so 
turned  her  head  that  she  quite  forgot  her  origin,  and. 


THE  VAGEANT  275 

putting  on  the  airs  of  a  princess,  was  hated  not  only 
by  the  Court,  but  also  by  all  Bayonne.  The  Com- 
mandant was  the  only  person  friendly  to  her,  and  he 
only  because,  having  arrived  at  Bayonne  in  rather  low 
water,  he  had  been  obliged  to  have  recourse  to  the 
assistance  of  the  kind  and  generous  Queen,  which  he 
succeeded  in  doing  through  Laborde. 

Now  the  odd  figure  of  the  Commandant,  and  the 
peculiar  style  of  dress  affected  by  Laborde,  furnished  an 
inexhaustible  fund  of  amusement  to  the  little  Court, 
sorely  in  need  of  enlivening.  It  was,  of  course,  im- 
possible that  a  humorist  like  Pollnitz,  who  had  a  real 
talent  for  seeing  the  funny  side  of  things,  should  not  add 
his  quota  to  fun. 

"  It  was  impossible  to  keep  from  laughing  at  the 
sight,  on  one  hand,  of  the  frizzled  old  head  of  the  Com- 
mandant— commonly  dubbed  'The  Eternal  Father,'  and, 
on  the  other,  of  this  Dame  Laborde,  usually  attired  in 
three  or  four  different-coloured  dressing-gowns,  one  on 
top  of  the  other,  one  shorter  than  the  other ;  her  favourite 
headdress  soiled  mob-caps,  poppy  red  ;  further,  she 
wore  at  her  side  a  huge  bouquet  of  flowers,  fastened 
by  a  flame-coloured  ribbon  ;  and,  on  the  other,  the 
portrait  of  some  saint  or  other,  also  fastened  by  a  flame- 
coloured  bow.  A  little  lackey,  as  funny  as  his  mistress, 
held  up  the  tails  of  all  these  dresses.'' 

At  a  supper-party  the  Baron  was  unwise  enough 
to  make  some  rather  witty  jokes  over  this  charming 
couple.  The  Commandant  was  told  of  it,  and  Pollnitz 
was  warned  by  a  German  Franciscan,  the  Queen's 
confessor,  that  he  intended  to  arrest  him. 

As  Pollnitz  felt  quite  innocent  of  any  crime,  he 
thought  the  warning  was  only  intended  to  frighten  him. 
However,  he  went  to  Dadoncourt,  and  told  him  about 
it.  The  latter  took  God  to  witness  that  there  was  no 
such  plan  afoot,  and  that  Pollnitz  could  leave  whenever 
he  liked.    He  had,  however,  no  sooner  returned  to  his 


276  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

inn  than  the  provost-marshal  of  the  fortress  entered 
with  two  soldiers  with  bayonets  on  their  muskets,  and 
told  the  Baron  that  he  arrested  him  in  the  King's  Name 
and  that  he  was  ordered  to  take  him  and  his  valet  to  the 
citadel.     He  demanded  the  keys  of   Pollnitz's  trunks 
all  his  papers,  and  put  his  baggage  in  charge  of  the 
landlord. 


CHAPTER   XIX 

On  being  taken  to  the  citadel,  Pollnitz  was  locked  into 
one  room  and  his  valet  into  another.  When  supper  was 
brought  him  in  the  evening  he  asked  for  paper  and  ink 
to  write  to  the  Commandant  to  inquire  the  reason  of 
his  arrest.  Also  he  asked  for  leave  to  write  to  France 
to  the  Regent,  and  to  his  friends. 

The  Commandant  replied  next  day  that  Pollnitz's 
statements  to  him,  in  the  presence  of  witnesses,  about 

his  friendship  with  the  Comte  de  S showed  him  that 

Pollnitz  might  quite  possibly  have  been  implicated  in 
Cellamare's  conspiracy.  He,  therefore,  considered  it 
his  duty  to  detain  him,  pending  a  reply  to  a  letter  that 
he  had  written  to  the  Court,  and  ended  his  letter  with 
assurances  of  friendship  and  protestations  of  desire  to 
serve  him. 

Under  these  circumstances  there  was  nothing  to  be 
done  but  to  await  developments.  The  Baron  stayed 
in  bed  as  much  as  possible  for  the  next  few  days,  and 
whiled  away  the  time  in  sleep,  for  when  he  was  awake 
he  racked  his  restless  brain  with  useless  schemes  for 
extricating  himself  from  this  predicament. 

After  a  few  days  an  officer,  with  a  sergeant  and  four 
men  with  fixed  bayonets,  entered  his  room.  He  bade 
Pollnitz  follow  him  to  the  Major  of  the  citadel,  who  was 
ordered  to  interrogate  him.  The  Baron  deemed  it 
wisest  to  be  very  docile.  The  Major,  who  was  seated 
in  a  chair,  was  very  civil,  apologizing  for  not  rising, 
as  he  was  ill  with  the  gout  and  could  not  move.  He 
asked  Pollnitz  all  sorts  of  questions  about  himself,  to 
which  he  received  very  laconic  replies.  Then  the 
prisoner  was  taken  back  to  his  room. 

277 


278  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

Two  days  later  his  valet  was  set  at  liberty  and  allowed 
to  wait  upon  him,  and  a  German  Capuchin,  Father 
Thomas,  was  ordered  to  visit  him.  These  favours 
raised  poor  Pollnitz's  hopes,  and  "  every  time  I  heard 
the  key  turned  I  thought  my  captivity  had  come  to  an 
end,"  and  that  orders  had  come  from  the  Due  d'Orleans 
to  set  him  free. 

But  it  was  quite  the  contrary.  Dadoncourt  wrote 
him  a  note  to  say  that  he  had  been  ordered  to  keep  him 
in  yet  stricter  confinement.  This  he  did,  and  even,  in 
Pollnitz's  opinion,  overdid.  The  valet  was  removed  ; 
Father  Thomas  came  no  more,  and  "  it  was  not  the  Duke's 
fault  that  I  did  not  die  of  hunger  and  cold."  His  pro- 
visions were  reduced  by  half,  his  fuel  entirely  cut  off, 
lest  he  should  burn  down  the  citadel.  In  reply  to  a 
letter  of  remonstrance  on  the  subject,  the  Commandant 
only  said  that  a  Prussian  should  not  feel  the  cold  in 
Guienne,  "  adding  impertinently  that,  if  I  was  really 
cold,  he  advised  me  to  stay  in  bed." 

Nor  was  this  all.  Dadoncourt  forbade  the  Bank 
to  cash  the  few  notes  which  Pollnitz  had  left  him, 
fearing  apparently  lest,  having  ready  money,  he  should 
attempt  to  bribe  his  guards.  Further,  he  so  abused 
his  authority  as  to  have  Pollnitz's  baggage,  which  had 
been  left  at  the  inn,  sold  to  pay  his  bill  there.  He  would 
not  allow  him  to  send  any  one  to  attend  the  sale  on 
his  behalf,  and  the  things  were  bought  by  Dadoncourt's 
valet  at  an  eighth  part  of  their  value. 

Very  enraged  by  this  treatment,  the  irate  Baron 
wrote  several  letters,  to  the  Due  d'Orleans,  to  M.  Le 
Blanc,  Minister  of  War,  and  sent  them  to  the  post  at 
Acqs,  by  a  soldier  whom  he  bribed  with  money  through 
a  chink  in  the  door.  All  this  produced  no  result.  It 
was  the  same  with  a  letter  to  the  Queen  of  Spain,  "  who 
looked  upon  me  as  a  state  prisoner,  and  would  not 
take  an  interest  in  me."  This  last  failure  put  poor 
Pollnitz  into  such  a  state  of  despair  and  melancholy 
that  he  fell  ill,  "  and  they  were  cruel  enough  to  refuse 
me  a  doctor." 


THE  VAGEANT  279 

At  this  time  the  Baron  de  Montbel  chanced  to  pass 
through  Bayonne  on  his  way  to  Spain.  French  by 
birth,  he  had  taken  refuge  at  the  Prussian  Court  upon 
the  revocation  of  the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  had  been 
a  captain  in  the  regiment  of  guards  commanded  by 
Pollnitz's  father.  Hearing  that  the  son  was  shut  up  in 
the  Citadel "  he  asked  permission  to  visit  me.'^  Dadon- 
court  refused  point-blank.  Montbel  asked  that,  at 
least,  he  might  send  his  compliments  by  Pollnitz's 
valet.  This  was  allowed,  but  only  to  add  another 
insult.  On  entering  the  citadel  the  valet  was  searched 
from  head  to  foot  to  see  if  he  were  carrying  any  letter 
from  the  Baron.  As  he  denied  that  he  had  any  letter 
on  him,  he  was  clapped  into  the  cells  and  told  that  he 
should  stay  there  for  the  rest  of  his  life  unless  he  con- 
fessed to  have  given  letters  to  his  master. 

Pollnitz  was  really  in  a  very  sad  plight :  arrested 
under  false  pretences,  suffering  cold  and  hunger,  and 
deprived  of  all  help  from  a  Princess  from  whom  he  had 
hoped  so  much.  Under  such  a  persecution  he  fell  into 
a  state  of  melancholy  from  which  he  roused  into  such 
paroxysms  of  anger  that  he  thought  he  should  go  off 
his  head.  Happily  he  ended  "  by  arguing  that,  to  die 
of  grief  was  the  greatest  folly  I  could  commit,"  and 
philosophically  making  up  his  mind  "  to  pass  his  time 
tranquilly  in  the  citadel  till  the  majority  of  Louis  XV." 

Just  as  he  had  become  accustomed  to  the  solitude 
and  silence — for  a  man  of  his  temperament  the  hardest 
things  he  had  to  bear — on  January  31st  Dadoncourt's 
valet  came  to  inform  him  that  he  was  free.  He  said 
that  his  master  had  orders  to  send  him  out  of  the  citadel, 
but  that,  as  it  was  late,  he  begged  him  to  spend  the  night 
there,  and  on  the  morrow  to  go  where  he  chose.  Pollnitz 
agreed,  but  next  morning  Dadoncourt  went  back  on 
what  he  had  said,  sending  to  ask  when  Pollnitz  was 
going  to  Spain,  as  he  had  orders  not  to  let  him  stay  in 
Bayonne. 

Pollnitz  sent  back  word  to  say  that  he  could  not 
leave   without   discounting   his   bank-notes,   the   only 


280  A  VAGABOND  COUETIER 

money  he  had,  and  adding  that,  if  he  were  not  to  be 
allowed  to  cash  them  himself,  he  asked  at  least  to  be 
allowed  to  go  to  Holland,  where  he  would  find  friends 
and  relations  to  help  him. 

Dadoncom"t  replied  haughtily  that  he  was  neither 
a  banker  nor  money-changer,  that  Pollnitz  could  not 
remain  in  the  citadel,  as  his  (Dadoncourt's)  orders  were 
that  he  was  to  leave  it ;  and,  finally,  that  he  could  not 
let  him  go  to  Holland,  as  his  orders  were  to  send  him 
across  to  Spain.  The  impertinent,  familiar  style  of 
this  reply  further  enraged  the  Baron,  who  saw  himself 
obliged  to  start  for  Spain  with  only  a  ragged  staff  in 
his  hand. 

Happily,  Father  Thomas  came  to  the  rescue  and 
provided  forty  pistoles  for  two  thousand  louis  in  bank- 
notes. His  baggage  did  not  cause  Pollnitz  much 
trouble ;  Dadoncourt,  as  we  have  shown,  had  seen  to 
that.  As  the  journey  to  Spain  was  considered  a  matter 
of  the  greatest  urgency,  Pollnitz  was  given  a  guard  to 
the  frontier.  There  he  was  shown  the  orders  from  the 
Court,  a  letter  addressed  to  Dadoncourt  by  Le  Blanc, 
Minister  of  War. 

"  His  Royal  Highness  is  quite  willing,  Monsieur,  to 
grant  his  liberty  to  the  Sieur  Baron  de  Pollnitz,  now 
detained  in  the  Citadel  of  Bayonne,  on  condition  that 
he  leaves  the  kingdom,  and  that  is  why  I  beg  you  to 
have  him  escorted  to  the  frontier  of  Spain.'' 

Unless,  as  Pollnitz  himself  suggests,  the  whole 
affair  was  the  result  of  the  frizzle-headed  old  Com- 
mandant's personal  spite,  it  is  inexplicable.  For  Poll- 
nitz had  left  Paris  only  a  few  months  before  on  the 
best  terms  with  the  Regent,  having  been  present  at  his 
levees.  Moreover,  the  intelligence  between  France  and 
Spain  was  daily  growing  better,  and  the  former  was 
unlikely  to  stir  up  the  dead  embers  of  the  Cellamare  plot. 

Pollnitz  crossed  the  mountains  to  Pampeluna,  finding 
**  the  passes  of  the  Pyrenees  very  different  to  those  of 
the  Alps."    But  everywhere  he  found — 


THE  VAGRANT  281 

"  Detestable  inns,  which  looked  like  robbers'  caves. 
The  inhabitants  of  these  mountains  have  a  something 
about  their  faces  which  alarms  the  traveller.  I  found 
myself  obliged  to  spend  the  night  with  my  valet  in  a 
drinking-shop  with  about  a  score  of  these  folk  ;  we 
made  up  our  minds  not  to  go  to  sleep,  and  I  think  we 
were  wise,  for  these  mountaineers  looked  like  real 
cut- throats.  I  left  this  humble  halting-place  as  early 
as  I  could,  reaching  Pampeluna  by  evening.  I  alighted 
at  the  inn  pointed  out  to  me  as  the  best  in  the  town, 
but  which  I  found  as  bad  as  those  I  had  come  across  on 
my  way  from  Bayonne.  The  bread,  the  wine,  the  meat, 
the  bed,  was  all  horrible.  But,  as  life  seemed  to  me  more 
secure  than  in  the  mountain  taverns,  I  made  up  for  the 
night  that  I  had  sat  up  by  sleeping  the  sleep  of  the  just 
till  the  morrow/' 

PoUnitz  called  upon  the  Viceroy  of  Navarre,  the 
Prince  of  Castellane,  and  explained  his  plight  to  him. 
The  Prince  was  very  civil  and  sympathetic,  and  offered 
Pollnitz  anything  he  required.  As  to  the  latter's  treat- 
ment at  the  hands  of  the  Commandant  he  was  not  sur- 
prised. Pollnitz  was  not  the  only  one  who  had  suffered, 
and  the  Prince  said  that  he  did  not  understand  how  the 
Regent  could  allow  the  injustice  which  was  perpetrated 
in  Bayonne  to  go  on.  He  suggested  to  Pollnitz  to  write 
an  exact  account  of  what  he  had  gone  through.  "  Even 
if  it  does  not  bring  you  any  reparation,  I  am  sure  it 
will  bring  down  a  lecture  upon  the  Commandant." 

Pollnitz  followed  the  Viceroy's  advice,  but — 

'*  I  had  been  painted  in  such  black  colours  to  the 
Regent  and  the  Minister  that,  not  content  with  leaving 

my  letters  unanswered,  they  wrote  to  M.   de  M , 

the  French  charge  d'affaires  at  Madrid,  to  do  all  he 
could  against  me.  The  latter  faithfully  carried  out 
his  orders,  not  only  from  obedience  to  his  Prince,  but 
also  on  account  of  the  pleasure  it  gave  him  to  do 
harm.'* 


282  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

The  Viceroy  showed  the  sights  of  Pampeluna  to 
Polhiitz,  and  they  walked  outside  the  town,  "  which  is 
in  a  very  fine  position,"  and  recently  more  strongly 
fortified  by  Cardinal  Alberoni.  Then  Pollnitz  went  on 
his  way  to  Madrid,  "  along  an  unpleasant  road,  through 
an  arid  land,  with  here  and  there  dilapidated  villages, 
and,  what  was  worse,  inns  where  one  could  hardly  find 
enough  to  live  upon." 

On  entering  Castille  it  was  worse.  The  rooms  were 
poorly  furnished,  one  was  obliged  to  provide  one's  own 
food,  and  to  prepare  it.  However,  it  was  cheap  enough, 
and  Pollnitz  went  through  the  country  without  meeting 
with  any  misadventure,  which  was  not  a  little  sur- 
prising, as  murders  and  robberies  were  very  common 
in  Spain. 

The  entrance  to  Madrid  struck  him  as  having  a 
fictitious  resemblance  to  that  of  Rome  by  the  Porta 
del  Popolo.  But  the  resemblance  did  not  last  long. 
Three  bifurcating  streets  led  to  the  heart  of  the  city, 
and  Pollnitz  took  one  which  led  him  to  the  Plaza  di 
S.  Domingo,  where  he  had  been  told  of  a  French  inn. 

As  he  was  getting  out  of  his  post-chaise  he  found 
himself  warmly  embraced  by  a  man  he  had  known 
in  the  service  of  King  Stanislaus  of  Poland,  and  later 
at  Paris.  He  had  been  obliged  to  fly  thence  from  the 
hands  of  justice,  having  been  accused  of  the  robbery 
and  murder  of  an  Abbe,  and  in  his  absence  he  had  been 
executed  in  effigy.  Having  found  his  way  to  Madrid, 
then  the  Alsatia  for  Frenchmen,  he  had  changed  his 
name  from  Le  G to  that  of  the  Baron  D . 

Pollnitz  instantly  recognized  him  when  he  approached 
to  greet  him,  but,  remembering  the  affair  in  Paris, 
did  not  respond,  and  feigned  not  to  know  him. 

"  What !  are  you  not  the  Baron  de  Pollnitz  ?  Don't 
you  remember  seeing  me  in  Berlin,  and  also  at  Hanover," 
etc.,  the  man  continued,  and  recalled  the  past,  and  his 
stay  in  Paris. 

Pollnitz  remained  on  the  defensive,  but  gradually, 
weary  of  his  reminiscences,  he  let  the  man  see  that  he 


THE  VAGRANT  283 

recollected  him  faintly,  called  him  by  the  name  of 
several  people  whom  they  had  met,  and,  finally,  "  after 
much  apparent  groping,  I  decided  to  give  him  pleasure, 
and  exclaimed  hesitatingly :  '  But,  Monsieur,  might 
you  be  M.  le  G ?  '  " 

"  At  this  the  man  changed  countenance,  coloured, 
and  withdrew  without  a  reply,  and  I  proceeded  to 
look  for  a  room.  When  I  came  down  in  the  evenmg 
to  supper  at  the  table  d'hote,  I  found  some  officers  there 
who  had  seen  M.  le  G speaking  to  me.  They  in- 
quired who  he  was,  and  I,  unaware  that  he  had  changed 
his  name,  made   no   bones  about  saying  that   he  was 

Le  G .    No  sooner  had  I  mentioned  the  name  than 

one    of    the    company     exclaimed  :     '  Eh !     Morbleu ! 

It's  Abbe  V 's  murderer  !     What !  a  man  like  that 

asking  for  an  apartment  here  !  ' 

"  I  then  saw  that  I  had  made  a  mistake  in  men- 
tioning Le  G 's  name,  but,  at  the  same  time,  I  thought 

that  Le  G had  made  a  worse  by  placing  me  under 

the  necessity  of  doing  so.  I  tried  to  explain  away  what 
I  had  said,  but  no  one  would  listen.  Every  one  was 
enlarging  on  the  story  of  the  pretended  Baron's  flight 
from  France,  and,  in  the  end,  it  was  spread  about 
that  he  left  Madrid,  and  went,  it  is  said,  to  Portugal, 
where  he  did  well."' 

The  Baron  had  not  long  been  at  Madrid  ere  he  found 
old  acquaintance.  The  day  after  his  arrival  no  less 
than  twenty  officers,  French  and  German,  whom  he  had 
known  at  different  Courts,  came  to  call  upon  him.  The 
discovery  of  Cellamare's  plot  had  driven  many  French- 
men across  the  frontier,  besides  others  who  had  been 
implicated  in  the  abortive  risings  in  Brittany,  and  who 
were  ruined. 

"  These  were  received  in  Spain  as  men  who  had 
sacrificed  everything  for  King  Philip.  Cardinal 
Alberoni  had  made  them  all    colonels,  without  even 


284  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEK 

knowing  if  they  had  ever  served.  Others,  who  had 
abandoned  larger  estates,  were  so  unfortunate  as  to  be 
the  least  rewarded." 

At  his  hostel  Pollnitz  found  the  Baron  de  Montbel, 
who  had  taken  so  many  steps,  though  in  vain,  to  in- 
quire after  his  health  when  he  was  incarcerated  in  the 
citadel  of  Bayonne.  In  fact  Pollnitz  soon  found  "  even 
more  acquaintances  than  I  wished  for,  as  I  had  not 
come  here  to  amuse  myself,  but  to  seek  employment." 
His  first  care  was  to  be  presented  to  the  King  and  Queen. 
His  audience  with  the  former  was  secret.  "  The  public 
audiences  are  for  people  of  small  account,  and  are  held 
in  the  presence  of  the  grandees,  the  King  merely  reply- 
ing to  the  petitions  presented  to  him  by  a  *  I  will  see. 
I'll  attend  to  it.'  " 

Then  the  private  secretary,  who  is  the  introducer, 
announced  a  private  audience ;  the  grandees  retired, 
and  the  doors  of  the  hall  were  closed.  Pollnitz  found 
the  King  alone  in  his  room.  Philip  was  now  middle- 
aged  and  had  grown  very  stout  and  indolent.  The 
Baron  made  him  three  genuflexions,  and,  as  he  ap- 
proached the  King,  knelt  down.  He  told  His  Most 
Christian  Majesty  that,  having  heard  of  his  great  piety 
and  zeal  for  the  Catholic  Faith,  he  thought  he  could  do 
no  better  than  to  throw  himself  at  his  feet  and  offer 
his  humble  services  ;  he  mentioned  how  he  had  in- 
curred his  sovereign's  displeasure,  and  lost  all  hope  of 
serving  with  comfort  in  his  own  land,  because  of  the 
New  Religion  which  he  had  embraced.  He  laid  before 
Philip  the  attestation  signed  by  Cardinal  Noailles,  and 
also  the  letter  of  the  King  of  Prussia,  appointing  him 
gentleman  of  the  chamber,  which  appointment  would, 
doubtless,  but  for  his  change  of  religion,  have  been 
confirmed.  The  King  looked  at  both,  and  then  gave 
them  back  to  him,  saying :  "I  will  attend  to  what 
you  ask,  and  I  will  send  to  you  soon."  Pollnitz  then 
presented  a  memorial  he  had  in  his  pocket,  rose,  and 
left  the  room  backwards,  with  three  genuflexions. 


THE  VAGRANT  285 

Now  that  she  had  driven  away  Alberoni,  the 
stepping-stone  by  which  she  had  reached  her  present 
high  position,  it  was  EHzabeth  Farnese — the  homme- 
femme,  de  Noailles  called  her — who  ruled  Spain,  and  who 
was  the  fountain  of  favours.  Philip  had  been  but  as 
wax  in  her  hands  from  the  first  moment  he  set  eyes 
upon  his  graceful  young  bride,  brimming  over  with 
life  and  spirits,  the  exact  opposite  of  himself.  Though 
Alberoni's  far-flung  schemes  for  the  aggrandisement  of 
Spain  had  failed,  because  too  impracticable,  Spain  was 
reaping  the  fruit  of  his  wiser  internal  administration. 
She  was  at  peace  again,  in  a  better  condition  than  her 
neighbours,  and  her  alliance  was  courted.  Elizabeth, 
*'  veritablement  une  femme  furieuse/'  said  d'Argenson, 
was  scheming  to  establish  her  sons  in  what  had  been 
the  Spanish  possessions  in  Italy,  and  in  her  own  duchy 
of  Parma,  when  the  male  line  should  die  out ;  she  was 
now  beginning  to  feel  hopeful  of  success.  Pollnitz 
knew  that  he  must  plead  his  cause  with  Elizabeth. 

He  was  introduced  by  the  major-domo.  He  found 
the  Queen,  tall  and  thin,  innocent  of  rouge,  dressed 
ready  to  go  hunting  with  the  King.  Her  riding 
habit  set  off  her  fine  figure,  and  she  was  a  good  sports- 
woman, a  good  shot,  bringing  down  game,  large  and 
small,  from  her  saddle.  In  a  uniform  of  blue  and  silver 
she  had  ridden  compaigning  with  the  King  during  the 
war  in  Navarre. 

A  few  ladies  were  present  at  the  interview,  and 
through  an  open  door  Pollnitz  caught  sight  of  the  Prince 
of  the  Asturias  and  the  other  royal  children.  The 
marriage  of  Philip  and  Elizabeth  was  a  model  one  ; 
their  Court  set  an  example  to  all  others  in  Europe,  and 
maternal  instinct  was  very  strong  in  "  the  termagant 
of  Spain." 

To  the  Queen  Pollnitz  repeated  the  same  words  that 
he  had  used  to  the  King,  "  and  she  replied  kindly  that 
it  would  always  be  a  pleasure  to  do  anything  for  me 
that  lay  in  her  power."  But  it  is  doubtful  if,  despite  the 
Palatine  influence  (her  mother  was  a  Neuburg)  which, 


286  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

doubtless,  the  Baron  brought  to  bear,  that  he  was  the 
kind  of  man  to  appeal  particularly  to  this  masculine, 
straightforward,  rather  bluff  and  very  outspoken  lady, 
who  hated  every  kind  of  affectation,  her  only  weakness 
being  that  of  taking  snuff. 

However,  Pollnitz  thought  that  he  had  started  well 
at  the  Spanish  Court.  But  the  next  thing  was  to  find 
some  hard  cash  ;  for,  as  we  know,  he  had  but  little 
with  him,  and  nothing  on  which  he  could  raise  any 
money,  and,  if  he  was  to  go  much  into  society,  he  would 
soon  come  to  an  end  of  his  supplies.  But  the  favourable 
welcome  of  the  King  and  Queen  raised  his  hopes  ;  he 
found  old  friends,  made  new  ones,  had  luck  at  cards — 
which  he  thought  a  good  omen — all  of  which  enabled 
him  to  make  his  appearance  with  a  certain  air  of  pros- 
perity. The  Ministers  he  found  most  civil ;  they 
were  few  of  them  Spaniards,  for  Spain  did  not  seem 
able  to  produce  men  of  talent  in  administration,  and 
the  courtiers  held  aloof  from  politics  ;  the  government 
really  centred  in  Philip,  which  is  to  say,  in  Elizabeth. 
The  Marquis  Grimaldo,  of  Genoese  extraction,  an  old 
favourite  of  the  King's,  and  Secretary  for  Foreign  Affairs, 
was  busy  on  the  French  double  marriages.  He  was 
reputed  an  honest  man,  and  one  to  be  believed  if  he 
declared  that  the  King  was  interested  in  any  one,  as  in- 
deed, he  did  declare  to  Pollnitz.  Castelar,  just  made 
Minister  of  War,  Pollnitz  thought  the  mostpolite  minister 
he  had  ever  met ;  "  what  was  more,  one  who  did  not 
delay  in  giving  favours  or  refusals,  and  did  both 
pleasantly." 

Old  Father  Daubenton,  the  King's  confessor,  shared 
with  the  Queen  the  ascendency  over  Philip,  and  was,  in 
all  but  name.  Prime  Minister  in  Spain.  He  was  for  the 
Italian  party,  as  Grimaldo  was  for  the  French.  Pollnitz 
applied  to  Daubenton,  as  to  every  one  else,  only  to  find 
him  haughty  and  very  brusque  where  his  own  interests 
were  not  concerned  ;  and  he  was  angling  for  the  Roman 
Scarlet.  ''  But  he  knew  so  well  how  to  dissimulate  that 
politeness,  sometimes    humility,   was  depicted  in  his 


THE  VAGRANT  287 

face  ;  one  could  not  imagine  any  one  more  sincere/' 
Both  the  Regent  and  Alberoni  had  lured  him  with  the 
coveted  hat,  but  the  longed-for  prize  never  came  within 
his  grasp. 

Pollnitz  also  waited  on  Cardinal  Borgia,  much  in 
royal  favour.  The  butt  of  the  Court,  he  was  utterly 
unsuited  for  his  high  ecclesiastical  position ;  he  could 
hardly  read.  Pollnitz  found  him  too  indolent  to  be  of 
any  use.  "  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  man  who  pos- 
sesses this  characteristic  to  such  an  eminent  degree.'* 
He  was  very  devout,  but  quite  uneducated  ;  Pollnitz 
was  told  that  he  did  not  know  a  word  of  Latin. 

Our  Baron  left  no  stone  unturned,  and  was  indefatig- 
able in  besieging  all  and  every  one  of  influence  with  his 
petitions.  Then  he  began  to  see  a  gleam  of  sunlight. 
Either  his  "  numerous  friends  had  indeed  spoken  for 
him,  or  the  King  had  been  touched  by  what  he  had 
suffered  for  his  faith."'  Philip  gave  him  a  commission 
as  lieutenant-colonel  a  la  suite  of  the  Sicilian  regiment, 
with  a  soldo  vivo  of  about  sixteen  pistoles  a  month.  The 
soldo  vivo  was  a  concession,  the  result  of  recent  reforms. 
Not  long  before  the  Spanish  army  was  only  paid  when 
it  fought !  The  soldo  vivo  meant  that,  in  peace,  the  pay 
was  the  same  as  on  active  service.  To  Pollnitz  it 
seemed  very  good  pay  indeed.  He  found  out  that  an 
officer  could  live  in  his  garrison  upon  it,  and  he  began 
to  make  plans  of  economizing,  having  learnt  wisdom 
by  sad  experience.  With  what  came  from  home,  and 
with  what  he  was  to  draw  from  Spain,  he  thought  he 
could  do  up  his  dilapidated  carriage  a  little,  and  appear 
in  a  more  suitable  manner,  till  better  times  dawned. 

He  went  to  offer  his  thanks  to  Their  Majesties,  speak- 
ing in  German.  Then  he  set  off  for  Aragon,  where  his 
regiment  was  quartered.  But  he  soon  had  to  return, 
to  ask  for  a  little  present,  till  his  pay  came  in,  for  he 
had  only  reached  Spain,  as  we  know,  with  very  little 
ready  money.  Some  of  his  friends  advised  him  to  ask 
boldly  for  a  good  sum  down,  or  a  salary  on  some  mono- 
poly, because  he  could  not  depend  upon  his  pay  in 


288  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

order  to  live,  "  for  in  Spain/'  he  says,  *'  more  than  any- 
where else,  this  is  often  a  year,  and  sometimes  two  or 
three,  in  arrears,  unless  one  bothers  some  Minister,  or 
greases  the  Treasurer's  palm." 

This  prospect  somewhat  alarmed  Pollnitz.  He  saw 
that,  perhaps,  his  luck  might  be  as  bad  in  Spain  as  else- 
where. But  he  plucked  up  his  courage  and  went  to 
the  Minister  of  War,  who  sent  him  to  Father  Daubenton. 
The  latter  told  him  that  it  was  no  affair  of  his.  Pollnitz 
knocked  at  every  door ;  they  were  shut  in  his  face,  or 
opened  without  any  good  result.  So  he  decided  to 
appeal  direct  to  the  King,  and  presented  a  petition 
explaining  his  plight,  caused  by  the  fall  in  bank-notes, 
and  by  the  strange  conduct  of  the  Commandant  at 
Bayonne. 

He  went  to  Aranjuez,  the  favourite  residence  of 
Philip  and  Elizabeth,  and  where  the  Court  then  was.  It 
was  also  Pollnitz's  favourite  resort  during  his  stay  in 
Spain  ;  he  enjoyed  the  beautiful  gardens  and  the  avenues 
of  Charles  V  on  the  borders  of  the  Tagus. 

The  King's  only  reply  was  his  habitual  "  I  will 
attend  to  it."  Grimaldo  was  the  only  Minister  present, 
and  to  him  Pollnitz  applied  later  for  news  of  the  result  of 
his  placet.  After  much  humming  and  hawing,  and  many 
delays,  the  Marquis  sent  him  back  to  the  Father  Con- 
fessor. Pollnitz's  humble  request  to  the  latter  was  ill 
received.  Daubenton  had  other  matters  to  attend  to 
than  the  Baron's  placet,  and  told  him  so  bluntly. 
Pollnitz  remarked  that  Grimaldo  had  sent  him  to  him. 
"  Oh  !  Grimaldo  !  "  he  interrupted,  and,  going  into  his 
study,  shut  the  door  in  Pollnitz's  face.  The  two  favourites 
hated  each  other. 

Pollnitz  thought  best  to  await  a  more  favourable 
opportunity. 

"  Next  day  I  placed  myself  in  the  posture  of  a  suppliant 
in  the  corner  of  his  hall.  His  Jesuit  companion,  seeing 
me,  begged  me  to  step  into  the  anteroom.  This  I 
forbore  to  do,  saying  it  was  too  much  honour.     The 


THE  VAGRANT  289 

truth  was  that  I  wished  to  be  sure  of  getting  speech  of 
the  confessor,  for  I  noticed  that  the  Reverend  Father 
often  played  a  school-boy  trick  on  those  waiting  in  the 
anteroom  :  he  would  pass  out  by  a  little  door  which 
opened  actually  into  the  hall  in  which  I  stood. 

"  I  waited  a  good  hour,  and  then  I  thought  I  saw  my 
man  come  out  by  the  bolt-hole.  I  seized  him  as  he 
passed,  and  found  him  in  a  better  frame  of  mind.  I  was 
told  to  call  to-morrow  to  hear  the  King's  reply.  I  did 
not  fail  to  appear,  but  only  to  be  told  that  it  had  been 
impossible  for  him  to  speak  to  the  King  about  it,  but 
he  would  do  so  next  day,  without  fail. 

"  These  days  passed  insensibly  into  weeks,  and  weeks 
into  months  ;  I  grew  despairing.  No  one  could  accuse 
me  of  not  petitioning.  Not  a  morning  did  I  miss  taking 
a  turn  in  the  confessor's  anteroom.  He  saw  me  well 
enough,  and  sometimes  honoured  me  with  a  slight  nod, 
at  others  only  swept  me  a  proud  glance.  Finally,  after 
all  this  assiduity,  I  only  obtained  a  formal  refusal." 

While  thus  wasting  his  time  in  Father  Daubenton's 
ante-chamber,  the  Baron  had  ample  opportunity  for 
seeing  all  that  was  to  be  seen  in  Madrid  in  the  way  of 
sights,  as  well  as  of  observing  the  way  of  life  at  the 
palaces  at  Madrid  and  at  Retiro,  which  were  so  neglected 
that  the  rats  had  eaten  some  of  the  finest  tapestries. 
He  makes  in  his  Memoirs  no  mention  of  the  famous 
Velasquezs  or  Murillos,  but  notes  that  some  of  the 
best  pictures  had  been  cut  in  quarters  to  get  them  into 
one  of  the  halls  of  the  palace.     The  gardens  were  poor. 

The  King  and  Queen  rose  late,  and  took  their  chocolate. 
Their  Secretary  Grimaldo  came,  and  they  transacted 
business.  After  that  the  levee.  Then  Father  Daubenton, 
staying  often  a  good  hour  with  the  King.  Audiences  and 
Councils  followed,  and  then  dinner,  quite  in  private 
with  the  Queen.  After  that  the  royal  pair  went  out 
shooting,  and  returned  late.  A  cold  collation  of  part- 
ridges, or  something  of  the  kind,  was  served,  at  which 
Grimaldo  was  permitted  to  be  present. 

I-19 


290  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

Then  audiences  in  the  study  to  foreign  Ministers 
and  other  persons  of  distinction.  The  King  usually 
stood,  Tidthout  his  hat ;  the  Queen  did  not  retire. 
Elizabeth  was  far  too  clever  to  leave  her  husband  un- 
guided,  even  for  a  moment.  She  hid  behind  a  screen, 
whence  she  could  hear  all  that  passed.  Afterwards  the 
King  worked  a  little  with  his  Ministers,  and  then  spent 
the  rest  of  the  evening  with  his  children  and  the  ladies 
of  the  palace.  Sometimes  there  were  cards  till  supper, 
to  which  Scotti,  the  fat,  jolly  Minister  of  Parma,  much 
in  favour  now,  was  generally  invited,  to  converse  with 
Their  Majesties,  who  went  to  bed  directly  afterwards. 

"  In  the  country  the  amusements  were  not  much 
liveher  than  at  Madrid.  I  have  seen  the  Court  several 
times  at  Aranjuez  ;  I  noticed  that  the  afternoons  were 
spent  in  shooting,  or  in  a  promenade  in  the  gardens  of 
the  chateau.  During  these  walks  Their  Majesties  shot 
at  rooks  with  little  arquebuses,  which  carried  extra- 
ordinarily far.  The  Queen  generally  shot  better  than 
the  King.  While  Their  Majesties  shot  on  one  side,  the 
Prince  of  the  Asturias  and  his  brother,  the  Infant 
Carlos,  and  their  tutors,  shot  on  the  other,  and  only  came 
home  in  the  evening." 

The  snub  that  Pollnitz  had  received  from  Daubenton 
staggered  him.  He  found  himself  without  money, 
without  credit,  and  without  knowing  how  to  borrow 
enough  to  carry  him  on  till  his  quarter's  pay  was  due. 
Luckily  for  him,  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Colonel 
"William  Stanhope,  who  had  been  for  some  years  British 
Minister  at  Madrid.  He  was  high  in  favour  with  Philip, 
"  who  loved  him  personally,  and  was  wont  to  say  that  he ' 
was  the  only  Minister  who  never  told  him  a  falsehood."' 

Pollnitz  became  acquainted  with  Stanhope  through 
his  secretary,  a  German  from  Berlin,  whose  brother  was 
valet  de  chambre  to  the  King  of  Prussia.  Anxious  to 
show  his  gratitude  for  some  services  which  my  relatives 
had  done  this  brother,  he  effected  the  introduction. 


I 


THE  VAGRANT  291 

Stanhope  the  Baron  found  most  pohte,  "  one  of  the 
most  honest  and  wisest  men  in  the  world  ;  gentle,  modest 
and  liberal,  very  upright.  At  first  sight  he  appears 
cold,  but  he  improves  upon  acquaintance/'  He  took 
steps  for  Pollnitz  even  with  the  confessor  and  with 
Scotti,  all-powerful  with  the  Queen  ;  but  he  had  no 
success. 

"  However,  he  did  all  in  his  power  :  he  pressed  me  to 
accept  his  table,  he  offered  me  his  carriages,  he  advanced 
me  some  money ;  in  short,  he  treated  me  as  a  good  friend 
might  have  done,  and  I  may  say  that  I  am  very  specially 
indebted  to  him,  as,  without  his  help,  I  should  have 
spent  the  rest  of  my  days  in  Spain." 

Pollnitz  passed  Holy  Week  and  Easter  at  Madrid,  and 
watched  the  famous  procession  from  the  palace  of  the 
Retiro,  where  it  passed  before  the  Royal  Family. 

*'  Quite  frankly  I  may  say  that  I  have  never  seen 
anything  more  contemptible,  not  to  say  scandalous, 
than  these  processions.  It  seemed  as  if  the  intention  was 
to  turn  into  ridicule  the  most  sacred  thing  in  the  world. 
The  Passion  and  Death  of  Our  Lord  were  represented 
in  such  a  burlesque  manner  that  I  really  wonder  that 
the  Tribunal  of  the  Inquisition,  which  often  condemns 
people  to  the  flames  for  imaginary  crimes,  does  not 
punish  very  severely  those  who  take  part  in  these 
Festivals.  ...  I  speak  of  these  Ceremonies  as  I  saw 
them  myself.  I  had  had  them  very  truthfully  described 
to  me,  but  I  took  it  all  for  a  libel,  invented  on  purpose 
to  defame  the  worship  which  the  Church  of  Rome  offers 
to  the  Greatest  of  our  Mysteries,  especially  as  it  was 
Protestants  who  described  them  to  me.  I  wished  to  see 
for  myself  if  all  that  I  had  been  told  was  observed  in 
the  Ceremonial  of  the  Church  in  Spain.  Therefore  I 
followed  the  Processions  with  much  eagerness,  and  I 
was  really  scandalized  to  see  in  reahty  what  I  had 
imagined  were  the  fabrications  of  the  enemies  of  the 


292  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

Roman  Church.  ...  I  do  not  know  if  my  animosity 
against  these  superstitions  was  not  increased  by  the 
unpleasantness  of  walking  about  the  streets  of  Madrid 
.  .  .  filthy  beyond  what  one  sees  in  towns  with  even  the 
fewest  police.  A  quantity  of  all  sorts  of  garbage  are 
flung  out  of  the  houses,  which  decays,  it  is  said,  during 
the  night,  as  the  air  of  Madrid  is  so  corrosive.  .  .  .  But 
I  experienced  the  contrary,  and  felt  extremely  upset 
by  the  stench  which  the  filth  disseminates.  The  diurnal 
smell  is,  however,  nothing  to  that  which  one  has  to 
endure  on  Feast-days  ;  for  usually  the  streets  are  then 
swept,  and  everything  in  them  is  stirred  up,  and  it  is 
difficult  to  put  up  with  it,  especially  if  the  weather 
should  be  dry.  For  everything  is  decayed  and  changed 
into  a  fine  dust ;  the  air  one  breathes,  and  even  every- 
thing one  eats,  is  infected  by  this  dust,  which  penetrates 
everywhere.  I  heard  an  Italian  Doctor  say,  on  this 
subject,  that  a  foreigner,  however  isolated  he  might  live, 
could  not  pass  three  or  four  years  without  being  attacked 
by  an  illness  which  we  look  upon  with  horror,  but  which 
the  Spaniards  do  not  think  much  of,  as  they  maintain 
that  it  is  hereditary  in  their  families.  This  Doctor 
maintained  that  all  one  breathed,  and  all  one  ate,  was 
poisoned  by  the  filth  of  Madrid.'' 

Yet  Pollnitz  found  that  large  sums  were  spent  in 
cleaning  the  streets.  Probably  the  inherent  Spanish 
laziness  was  the  cause  of  their  condition. 

"  I  know  of  no  nation  upon  earth  which  is  so  fond 
of  doing  nothing.  I  am  sure  that  if  they  inhabited  a 
less  fertile  country  than  their  own  they  would  die  of 
hunger.  In  winter  they  spend  their  time  in  walking 
in  the  sun,  which  is  a  delight  to  them.  The  summer 
days  they  pass  asleep  or  in  drinking  iced  waters,  and 
keep  their  promenades  for  night-time.  .  .  .  The  peasants 
in  Spain  are  as  lazy  as  the  townsfolk  .  .  .  satisfied  to 
scratch  the  soil.  The  Spanish  indolence  forbids  any 
kind  of  exercise  in  the  least  active.  ...  So  they  are 


THE   VAGRANT  293 

devoted  to  the  theatre,  the  most  amusing  thing  to  be 
found  in  Madrid.  .  .  .  The  theatre  a  horrible  place  .  .  . 
so  dark,  rows  of  benches  like  an  amphitheatre,  above, 
barred  boxes  for  ladies  .  .  .  the  stage  like  a  Roman 
stage,  a  row  of  porticoes  closed  by  curtains  through  which 
the  players  go  in.  All  very  ill-lighted,  and,  what 
shocked  me  most — and  I  smelt  it  at  once,  though  I  could 
not  see  it  at  first  in  the  dark — a  drain  ran  down  the 
middle  of  the  parterre  causing  an  unbearable  stench. 
The  actors  badly  dressed,  ugly,  bad  figures,  the  plays 
no  better  than  the  performers  .  .  .  mostly  sacred  pieces, 
even  the  Mysteries  of  our  Religion  are  performed.  One 
of  my  friends  assured  me  that  he  had  seen  the  Holy 
Sacrament  administered  to  a  sick  person.  If  this  be 
true  I  wonder  that  the  Inquisition,  usually  so  severe, 
can  tolerate  such  abuses." 

Strange  to  say,  the  Baron,  in  describing  his  Madrid 
sojourn,  does  not  refer  to  the  women  of  Spain. 
With  his  keen  eye  for  the  fair  sex,  both  as  to  their 
persons  and  their  minds,  it  appears  an  omission  rather 
unique  in  his  descriptions  of  foreign  Courts.  But  it  is 
not  surprising.  The  Spanish  women  of  the  upper 
classes  at  that  period  were  so  uneducated,  stupid,  and 
dull  that  Elizabeth  Farnese  found  it  impossible  to 
endure  their  society.  Conversation  with  them  was 
impossible  ;  they  were  monosyllabic,  and  she  turned  to 
that  of  men. 

A  few  days  after  his  arrival  Pollnitz  saw  something 
of  the  horrors  of  the  Holy  Inquisition.  Several  people, 
accused  of  being  Jews,  were  burnt  at  the  stake,  among 
them  a  girl  of  eighteen  or  twenty,  "  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  I  had  seen  in  Spain.  She  went  to  the  stake 
with  joy  shining  in  her  face,  and  died  with  courage 
such  as  is  attributed  to  our  martyrs." 

Shortly  after  that  there  was  a  great  Jew  hunt  through- 
out Spain.  In  one  night  forty  people  were  arrested 
in  Madrid.  Among  them  was  a  famous  doctor  named 
Paralta,  whom  Pollnitz  knew  a  little,  a  very  well-bred 


294  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

man  ;  but  a  bigoted  Jew.  His  mother  was  in  prison 
at  his  birth,  and  perished  soon  after  in  the  flames, 
praying  that  her  son  might  die  in  Hke  manner.  Paralta 
was  brought  up  a  Roman  CathoHc,  but  at  thirty  was 
accused  and  convicted  of  Judaism.  He  escaped  the 
first  time  with  three  years'  imprisonment,  but  the  second 
time  his  mother's  wishes  were  reaHzed.  PoUnitz  was 
glad  to  have  left  Madrid  before  his  execution. 

At  Aranjuez  he  took  his  leave  of  the  King.  He 
feared  up  to  the  last  that  the  King  might  not  give  him 
leave  to  go,  lest  he  should  change  his  religion.  How- 
ever, two  words  from  Daubenton  quieted  his  scruples  : 
"  It  is  the  only  obligation  I  had  to  the  Reverend  Father." 

"  The  King,  however,  ordered  me  to  return  as  soon  as 
I  could.  I  promised,  and  indeed  I  intended  to  do  so, 
but  Fortune,  always  contrary  to  my  plans,  made  me 
take  a  very  different  road." 

Stanhope,  who  had  been  generous  to  him,  again 
gave  the  Baron  timely  help,  and  lent  him  forty  pistoles 
for  his  journey,  and  he  left  Madrid  with  a  young  Baron 

di  V ,  who  was  going  to  his  uncle  at  Bilbao.     V 

was  an  impulsive  young  fire-eater,  always  on  the  look- 
out for  insults. 

The  first  day,  in  the  middle  of  a  thick  wood,  they 
perceived  four  well-armed  men,  two  on  either  side  of  the 
road,  and,  as  it  was  necessary  to  pass  between  them, 
Pollnitz  warned  his  companion  to  look  to  his  pistols. 

*'  Seeing  us  make  a  stout  show,  they  let  us  pass.  We 
thought  that  they   were   French,   which   induced  the 

Baron  di  V to  stop  the  chaise  and  ask  them  who 

they  were.  They  replied  that  they  were  French  officers, 
who  had  fled  from  their  country  over  a  duel.  They 
asked  for  news  from  Madrid,  and,  as  they  talked,  I 
noticed  that  they  gradually  drew  closer  to  our  chaise. 
Therefore  I  interrupted  the  conversation  and  ordered 
the  postillion  to  move  on,  and  at  a  good  pace,  because 


THE  VAGRANT  295 

we  were  in  a  hurry.  The  pretended  officers  broke  into 
a  trot,  in  order  to  rejoin  us,  but,  happily  for  us,  on 
reaching  the  top  of  a  little  hill,  we  saw  a  convoy  of  forty 
mules  with  several  horsemen,  coming  towards  us.  No 
sooner  had  our  escort  caught  sight  of  them  than  they 
turned  back  with  a  promptitude  which  confirmed  us  in 
my  idea  that  they  were  robbers.  There  was  no  longer 
any  room  for  doubt,  when,  later  on,  we  met  several 
police-patrols  who  were  beating  the  country-side  to 
catch  four  men,  whom  we  easily  recognized  from  their 
description  as  those  with  whom  we  might  have  had 
to  deal." 

"  The  second  day  I  thought  that  we  should  fall  out 
between  ourselves  on  the  subject  of  payment.  As  it 
was  I  who  saw  to  the  cooking,  and  as  never  in  my  life 
have  I  wished  to  die  of  hunger,  the  Baron  thought  me 
not  sufficiently  economical,  and,  at  first,  refused  to 
pay  his  scot.  In  the  end  he  yielded,  but  this  expense 
went  so  to  his  heart  that  he  looked  askance  at  me  all 
the  rest  of  the  journey.  He  even  made  believe  not  to 
talk  to  me  at  all.  As  for  me,  when  I  saw  him  in  that 
mood,  I  also  decided  on  silence,  and,  not  having  anything 
better  to  do,  slept  peacefully.  My  travelling  companion 
did  not  begin  to  speak  again  till  we  reached  Burgos, 
where  Pollnitz  noted  that  '  the  cathedral  was  a  fine 
building,  but  entirely  in  the  Gothic  style,'  which  was 
not  to  the  taste  of  the  eighteenth  century." 

From  Burgos  onward  through  Navarre  he  "seemed 
to  have  entered  a  new  world  .  .  .  the  country  fine  and 
well  cultivated,  the  villages  more  populated  ...  a 
certain  amount  of  activity  among  the  peasants  which 
is  not  found  among  the  Spaniards." 

Vittoria  stands  in  a  very  fertile  plain,  the  streets  very 
narrow — 

**  The  houses  all  of  wood,  and  so  projecting  that  you 
can  shake  hands  from  one  to  the  other.  We  put  up 
at  the  Post-house,  where  we  fared  better  than  in  any 


296  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

other  place  in  Spain.  But,  when  it  was  a  case  of  paying, 
there  was  yet  another  scene  to  get  through.  As  for  me, 
I  paid  my  share  without  a  murmur,  because  I  have 
always  noticed  that,  however  one  sets  to  work,  it  is 
always  the  same  in  the  end.  So,  having  given  what 
they  told  me  I  owed,  I  busied  myself  in  my  room  seeing 
that  I  had  forgotten  nothing,  when,  suddenly,  I  heard 
a  great  noise  in  the  courtyard,  and  was  obliged  to  put 
my  head  out  of  window.  I  was  very  surprised  to  see 
my  Baron  in  conflict  with  the  landlady  and  three  or 
four  of  her  maidservants,  who  were  giving  him  a  good 
hiding  ;  I  ran  down  as  quickly  as  I  could  to  rescue  him 
from  the  hands  of  these  Bacchantes,  and  arrived  very 
a  profos. 

*'  For  the  landlady  had  seized  a  great  kitchen-knife, 
with  which  she  was  going  to  stab  him.  I  separated 
the  combatants,  and,  with  a  little  money,  the  hostess 
calmed  down.  The  origin  of  the  quarrel  was  that  the 
Baron  quite  declined  to  pay  what  was  asked  of  him, 
and  was  ready  to  leave  without  paying  at  all.  The 
landlady,  who  would  not  stand  any  nonsense,  had 
seized  his  collar,  and  he,  to  get  free  of  her,  had  boxed 
her  ears.  The  landlady  demanded  satisfaction  for  the 
affront  she  had  received,  and  at  last,  after  a  great  deal 
of  noise,  let  us  start. 

"  We  left  the  post-chaise  at  Vittoria  to  take  to 
horseback,  on  account  of  the  bad  roads  which  led  to 
Bilbao.  .  .  .  The  country  is  very  wooded,  nothing  but 
mountains  to  be  seen  on  all  sides,  and  forests,  which 
harbour  many  robbers.  We  dismounted  at  a  lonely 
tavern  in  the  middle  of  a  wood,  and  soon  found  our- 
selves surrounded  by  seven  or  eight  armed  men,  who 
really  looked  like  cut-throats.  They  asked  us  if  we 
were  officers,  and  if  we  were  alone.  I  had  the  presence 
of  mind  to  reply  that  we  were  ahead  of  a  troop  of  cavalry 
which  would  reach  this  inn  shortly  ;  consequently  I 
ordered  hay  to  be  got  ready  for  their  horses.  I  do  not 
know  if  this  news  frightened  them,  but  they  promptly 
left  the  tavern  and  disappeared  into  the  wood.     We 


THE  VAGRANT  297 

mounted  our  horses  and  set  off  on  our  road.  About  a 
league  from  the  inn  we  found  the  highest  mountains 
I  had  ever  yet  beheld  ;  they  were  so  steep  that  the  paths 
had  to  be  cut  in  zigzags,  and  wide  enough  for  two  mules 
to  pass.'^ 

At  the  foot  of  this  pass  they  descended  into  a  pretty, 
populated  valley,  "  full  of  forges,  where  the  best  iron 
in  Spain  is  hammered/'  and  which  led  them  to  Bilbao. 

Here  Pollnitz  was  detained  longer  than  he  had  in- 
tended, seeking  a  vessel  to  take  him  to  Holland.  Bilbao 
was  a  very  busy  place,  exporting  quantities  of  wool  to 
Holland,  England,  and  France.  But  Philip  V  had 
taken  away  its  privileges  as  a  free  port  by  establishing 
customs,  which  so  irritated  the  inhabitants  that  riots 
ensued.  These  the  King  suppressed,  "  hanging  a  few 
of  the  ringleaders,  despite  the  ancient  privilege  by  which 
a  Biscayian  cannot  suffer  capital  punishment  except  for 
high  treason  or  heresy — a  privilege  of  which,  by  the 
by,  Philip  also  stripped  Catalonia  when  he  reconquered 
it." 

To  pass  the  time,  the  Baron  ascended  a  high  mountain 
near  Bilbao  to  visit  a  miracle-working  image  in  a  chapel. 
He  was  struck  by  the  altarpiece,  a  splendid  wood  carving, 
the  work,  he  was  told,  of  an  artist  who  had  subsequently 
been  burnt  as  a  Jew.  "  In  truth  the  Inquisition  might 
have  pardoned  him  on  account  of  his  art !  " 


CHAPTER   XX 

Failing  to  find  any  ship  sailing  for  Holland,  PoUnitz, 
probably  not  altogether  unwillingly,  took  one  bound 
for  London.  For  the  acquaintance  with  Stanhope,  and 
the  kindness  he  had  received  at  the  ambassador's  hand, 
must  have  influenced  him  favourably  with  regard  to 
England  and  the  English.  Moreover,  there  occurred  a 
chance,  to  PoUnitz  irresistible,  of  gathering  fresh  im- 
pressions of  an  unknown  country. 

After  a  six  days'  voyage  he  found  himself  in  the 
Channel.  He  was  much  struck  by  the  beauty  of  the 
scene,  and  the  crowd  of  fine  vessels  going  and  coming. 
And,  indeed,  in  those  days,  the  Straits  of  Dover,  filled 
with  billowing  masses  of  white  sail,  must  have  been  a 
sight  the  loss  of  which  we  can  but  regret. 

Nothing  finer  had  the  Baron  seen  than  the  estuary 
and  the  banks  of  the  Thames  ''  which  gave  a  great  idea 
of  all  the  riches  of  England."  Into  other  European 
capitals  he  had  driven  through  suburbs,  and  gateways. 
The  approaches  had  only  prepared  him  for  the  cities 
themselves.  But  here,  Pollnitz  felt,  it  was  not  only 
London,  but  England  itself,  which  he  had  reached. 
*'  Everywhere  fine  houses  and  beautiful  gardens  ;  the 
great  Arsenal,  and  foundry  of  cannon-bombs  and  bullets ; 
the  King's  great  yacht  at  anchor,  all  gilded  and  carved," 
ready  to  convey  him  across  to  Holland  for  his  beloved 
Hanover.  "  The  splendid  Greenwich  Hospital,  equal 
to  many  royal  palaces,  not  yet  finished."  Then,  on 
both  sides,  the  river  fringed  with  a  crowd  of  shipping 
at  anchor  on  its  broad  bosom — brigs,  frigates,  barques, 
going  up  and  down  with  the  tide,  "  a  splendid  sight. 
I   cannot   believe   it  possible   that  a   stranger  should 

298 


THE  VAGEANT  299 

not  be  struck  with  the  perpetual  movement  on  this 
river."  One  regrets  that  the  foreign  visitor  no  longer 
approaches  London  by  the  Thames,  now  girdled  with 
its  miles  of  docks  ! 

The  Baron  passed  under  "  famous  London  Bridge, 
one  of  the  finest  in  the  world  .  .  .  but  spoilt  by  the  mean 
houses  and  shops  on  either  side  of  it."  He  recalls  how 
Queen  Elizabeth  stuck  up  Essex's  head  on  one  of  the 
towers. 

He  landed  at  Whitehall  stairs ;  the  Palace  had  been 
burnt  almost  to  the  ground  years  before,  "  only  the 
grand  Pavilion,  of  fine  architecture,  remains,  used  as  a 
chapel."  Like  Mr.  Alfred  Jingle,  he  noticed  the  window 
through  which  Charles  I  passed  to  his  execution.  The 
horror  of  that  monarch's  fate  preyed  much  upon  the 
minds  of  eighteenth-century  courtiers,  permeated  with 
the  worship  of  Royalty. 

He  drove  through  St.  James's  Park,  "  to  London  what 
the  Tuileries  is  to  Paris,  and  as  full  of  people.  .  .  .  But 
what  spoils  the  promenading  is  that  the  crowd  is  so 
mixed,  livery  and  the  commonest  folk  walking  there  as 
well  as  people  of  quality."  He  thought  the  "  canal " 
which  ran  through  the  Park  fine,  and  the  alleys  well- 
kept,  especially  that  called  "the  Mail"  (sic),  but  the 
old  palace  of  St.  James,  where  the  King  lived,  "  like  the 
convent  it  was  formerly,  rather  than  a  Royal  Palace." 

The  guards  on  duty  both  at  St.  James's  and  White- 
hall— 

**  The  smartest  I  have  ever  seen,  such  fine  figures, 
and  not,  as  elsewhere,  parade  soldiers  ;  on  enlisting  they 
must  show  a  certificate  of  having  seen  service — the 
Body-guards  in  scarlet  with  gold  on  the  seams,  always 
booted  when  on  duty  ;  the  Horse  Guards  the  same,  but 
with  pale  blue  caps  on  which  are  embroidered  in  gold  and 
silver  the  order  of  the  Garter.  The  Halberdiers'  uniform 
most  extraordinary,  dressed  in  old-world  fashion,  scarlet 
with  a  galoon  of  the  King's  livery  of  blue  velvet  with  a 
gold  braid  in  the  centre,  black  velvet  cap  with  white 


300  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

plumes ;    the  Foot  Guards  in  scarlet  with  blue  facings 
and  badges  of  their  colonel's  colours." 

The  Baron  had  been  recommended  to  lodge  in  the 
quarter  of  St.  Anne  (Soho  ?)  with  some  French 
refugees — pleasant  people — and,  after  taking  a  few  days 
to  recover  from  his  voyage,  made  ready  to  appear  at 
Court.  But  all  his  efforts  for  presentation  were  in  vain. 
For  once  in  his  life  Pollnitz  found  himself  debarred  from 
crossing  a  royal  threshold.  His  dear  cousin,  Henrietta 
Charlotte,  had,  he  says,  set  the  King  and  the  German 
courtiers  against  him.  However,  the  Princess  of  Wales 
remembered  old  days,  not  only  those  when  the  Baron 
was  welcomed  at  the  Electress  Sophia  Charlotte's  Court, 
but  earlier,  at  the  Prussia  Court,  where,  on  the  death 
of  her  parents,  she  had  been  so  well  brought  up  by  her 
aunt,  the  wife  of  Frederic  I.  She  sent  Pollnitz  a  present ; 
but  the  Germans  at  Court  followed  their  master's  ex- 
ample, and  so  he  had  perforce  to  content  himself  with 
English  society,  finding  several  old  friends  he  had 
known  in  Paris,  who  showed  him  the  sights  of  London. 

The  above  is  the  Baron's  own  version  of  his  ostracism 
from  court  circles  during  his  first  visit  to  England  in 
1721.  But  there  is  another  side  to  the  medal.  Lack 
of  money  had  driven  him  to  an  expedient  to  raise  some, 
which  hardly  docs  him  credit. 

He  had,  as  we  know,  been  much  at  Zell,  and  was 
therefore  in  full  possession  of  all  the  circumstances 
connected  with  the  imprisonment  at  Ahlden,  near  by, 
of  the  errant  Dorothea,  wife  of  George  I.  Pollnitz 
now  conceived  the  audacious  idea  of  blackmailing  the 
King,  by  raising  the  veil  of  mystery  which  the  latter 
had  thrown  over  his  wife's  fate.  Under  the  title  of 
Cunegunde,  Princesse  des  Cherusques,  he  wrote  her 
story,  but  thinly  disguised.  The  Government  became 
alarmed.  The  Hanoverian  King  was  none  too  popular 
in  Great  Britain,  and  the  recent  Jacobite  rising,  though 
abortive,  had  shown  how  zealous  and  powerful  was  the 
Stuart   party.     The   British   Resident   at   the   Plague 


THE  VAGRANT  301 

got  wind  of  Pollnitz's  design.  He  wrote  to  the  Secretary 
of  State,  Townshend,  that  a  certain  Baron  von  Pollnitz 
was  coming  to  England,  with  defamatory  papers  con- 
cerning the  King,  and  advised  that  they  should  be 
confiscated.  George  had  no  desire  that  his  treatment 
of  his  wife,  cruel  even  to  inhumanity,  should  be  made 
known. 

Pollnitz  was  therefore  cold-shouldered  in  London. 
Townshend  would  not  answer  his  letter.  Then  he 
tried  his  luck  with  the  ladies  of  the  Opposition,  the 

Duchess  of   Marlborough,  and    "  milady  Q ,"  who, 

doubtless  he  thought,  would  be  greedy  for  scandal  about 
the  Hanoverian  Court.  But  he  had  no  better  luck, 
and  "  Cunegunde "  retired  into  obscurity  for  many 
years. 

Though  full  of  magnificent  buildings,  in  Pollnitz's 
opinion  London  could  not  be  counted  among  the  fine 
cities.  ''  Its  streets  are  dirty  and  ill-paved  ;  its  brick 
houses  are  very  low,  without  architectural  ornament, 
and  blackened  by  the  pitiless  coal-smoke,  which  gives 
it  a  gloomy  air,  and  detracts  from  its  pleasantness.'' 

The  sightseeing  began  with  St.  Paul's,  "  the  largest 
and  finest  Church  in  Europe  after  S.  Peter's  at  Rome." 
But,  of  course,  he  did  not  approve  of  the  Gothic  towers 
added  to  the  Renaissance  fagade,  and  wished,  as  we  all 
do  nowadays,  that  the  site  of  the  cathedral  had  been 
such  as  to  do  it  full  justice.  As  for  Queen  Anne's 
statue  outside,  "  she  holds  in  her  right  hand  a  sceptre, 
which  resembles  a  wax  candle  ;  one  would  say  she  was 
making  an  amende  honorable "  before  a  French 
Court  of  Justice. 

The  interior  of  the  cathedral  struck  the  Baron  as 
plain  as  the  exterior  was  fine ;  only  the  choir  painted, 
and  that  in  grey,  and  the  sculpture  poor.  The  choir 
he  thought  too  small  in  proportion  to  the  nave  ;  it  was 
"  surrounded  by  little  boxes,  like  the  boxes  at  a  theatre  " ; 
he  is  speaking  probably  of  the  stalls,  for  our  Baron 
is  not  au  fait  in  church  arrangements.  He  calls  the 
Bishop's  seat,  "  raised  on  a  dais,  like  that  of  cathedral 


302  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

bishops,"  the  throne  of  the  Archbishop  of  "  Cantor- 
bery,"  and  the  Dean's  seat,  by  the  entrance  to  the 
choir,  that  of  the  Bishop  of  London. 

Upon  leaving  St.  Paul's  the  Baron  and  his  guide 
took  hackney  coach  to  Westminster.  "  These  are  very 
common  conveyances  in  London,  but,  as  they  have  no 
springs,  they  are  unbearably  rough.  Otherwise  they 
are  useful  for  getting  over  the  ground  in  a  short  time  ; 
the  horses,  which  are  fairly  good,  nearly  always  go  at 
a  gallop,  and  that  over  the  worst  pavement  in  Europe." 
Twenty  years  later  the  Baron  was  instrumental  in 
introducing  hackney  coaches  in  Berlin. 

As  he  jolted  over  the  London  cobbles  of  the  period  he 
regretted  the  paving-stones  of  Paris,  and  tells  us  how 
Louis  XIV  oft'ered  to  exchange  paving-stones  for 
gravel  with  Charles  II.  "  Had  he  done  so  the  King  of 
England  would  have  had  by  far  the  best  of  the  bargain, 
for  he  would  have  paved  all  the  streets  of  his  capital, 
while  the  King  of  France  would  only  have  secured 
gravel  paths  for  his  gardens." 

At  Westminster  Abbey, "  which  has  no  beauty  but 
its  bulk,"  Pollnitz  was  shown  St.  Edward's  Coronation 
Chair,  which  he  confuses  with  the  stone  of  Scone.  In  a 
cupboard  near  by  was  an  efhgy  of  General  "Manck"  (sic), 
and  in  a  chapel  not  far  off  the  wax  statue  of  Charles  II, 
in  his  garter  and  robes,  and  of  her  Grace  of  Richmond 
in  her  ducal  robes.  But  of  the  chapels  and  the  tombs 
few  struck  him  as  worthy  of  "  notice."  (!) 

"  Among  the  relics  "  was  one  which  Pollnitz  did  not 
think  "  could  be  equalled  for  antiquity,  as  it  is  the 
stone  which  Jacob  used  as  a  pillow  when  the  mysterious 
ladder  appeared  to  him  in  a  dream.  This  precious 
relic  is  much  neglected,  and  I  do  not  know  how  pious 
King  James  II  could  leave  it  thus.  The  English 
should  present  it  to  the  Venetian  Republic,  as  it  would 
match  well  with  the  Stone  of  Moses  in  S.  Mark's  Cathedral. 
Cardinal  Cienfuegos,  during  my  last  visit  to  Rome, 
showed  me  a  piece  of  it ;  he  said  he  had  stolen  it  when 


THE  VAGRANT  303 

he  passed  through  London,  charged  with  a  mission 
from  the  Emperor  to  George  I.  He  added  that  it 
was  the  only  theft  that  he  had  committed  in  his  life, 
and  that  he  would  have  scrupled  to  do  it  had  the  stone 
been  honoured  in  England  as  it  should  be.  But  seeing 
it  so  neglected  and  despised,  he  could  not  help  saving 
a  piece,  and  had  seized  a  moment  when  the  guldens  back 
was  turned,  when  he  had  been  lucky  enough  to  knock 
off  a  piece  with  a  key,  and  had  kept  it.  I  told  him  that 
he  need  not  have  been  over- scrupulous  about  the  theft, 
as,  for  not  more  than  a  guinea,  he  could  have  had  a 
much  larger  piece,  and  perhaps  they  would  have  let 
him  carry  o&  the  whole  stone.  '  Ah !  Dieu ! '  ex- 
claimed the  Cardinal,  raising  his  eyes  to  heaven,  *  I 
wish  I  had  bought  it !  '  " 

In  the  Abbey  the  Baron  ran  against  an  old  acquaint- 
ance, an  English  nobleman,  who  took  him  to  the  Houses 
of  Parliament.  He  was  lucky  enough  to  see  the  King 
come  in  state,  in  a  coach  and  six,  and  his  royal  robes,  to 
prorogue  the  Parliament. 

"  Except  on  such  occasions,''  says  the  Baron,  "  he  is 
carried  in  a  sedan-chair,  footmen  precede  him,  and  six 
halberdiers  walk  on  either  side."'  Special  to  the  English 
Court  he  thought  "the  black  velvet  caps,  like  hunts- 
men's caps,  which  the  King's  livery  servants  wear." 

The  sight  of  the  King  upon  his  throne,  the  Prince 
of  Wales  at  his  side,  and  his  peers  on  benches  on  either 
hand,  much  impressed  the  Baron. 

"  When  I  saw  the  best  and  most  just  of  Monarchs 
come  to  confirm  what  the  peers  of  his  kingdom,  or 
rather,  the  fathers  of  the  people,  had  decided,  methought 
to  see  Augustus  at  the  Capitol  ratifying  the  decrees  of 
the  Senate,  and  the  Senate  applauding  the  acts  of  the 
Emperor.  Yet  the  Parliament  does  not  always  ac- 
quiesce in  the  wishes  of  the  King ;  on  the  contrary,  it 
knows  how  to  oppose  them  firmly  when  they  impugn 


304  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

public  liberty.  It  is  true  that,  since  the  last  Revolution, 
which  deprived  the  House  of  Stuart  of  the  throne,  the 
Kings  have  always  been  on  good  terms  with  their 
Parliaments.  Such  is  the  temperament  of  the  Nation  ; 
a  King  mild  and  just  is  loved  and  respected  by  it,  he 
finds  minds  as  docile  as  the  tyrannical  King  finds  them 
the  opposite.  All  those  who  censure  the  English  for 
their  want  of  loyalty  to  their  King  have  not  read 
history  well,  or  else  advocate  slavery  ;  and  those  who 
pity  a  King  of  Great  Britain  for  not  being  absolute 
have  an  erroneous  idea  of  Royalty.  A  King  of  England 
can  do  as  much  good  as  any  King  in  the  world,  but  he 
can  do  no  wrong.  What  can  a  gentlemanly  King 
(forgive  me  the  expression,  this  title  is  not  unworthy 
of  a  King)  want  more  ?  Is  it  not  enough  to  satisfy 
his  ambition  ?  And  can  a  man  be  pitied  for  not  having 
the  power  to  make  millions  miserable  ?  As  for  me 
I  think  that  the  English  who  do  not  stand  up  for  their 
laws  and  their  liberty  are  as  criminal  as  those  who 
oppose  their  Sovereign's  wishes  in  a  State  where  Des- 
potism is  established."' 

After  the  King  had  passed  by,  the  Baron  went "  to  dine 

with  milord ,  whose  brother  I  had  known  in  Spain." 

With  him  he  stayed  all  the  afternoon,  and  then  milord 
took  him  to  the  Opera,  which  delighted  Pollnitz  very 
much,  "  the  best  voices  in  Europe,  and  the  orchestra 
could  not  be  better,  or  larger."  But  he  preferred  the 
Paris  opera,  because  there  was  no  ballet,  or  only  a  very 
poor  one,  in  London.  The  dresses,  indeed,  were  much 
richer,  "  but  without  that  good  taste  which  only  a 
Frenchman  can  boast  of  possessing  supremely."  The 
house  struck  him  as  very  plain,  the  chorus  and  supers 
collected  from  anywhere,  "  and  often  looked  silly  or 
embarrassed."  But,  though  the  candles  dazzled  and 
detracted  from  the  effect  of  the  stage,  the  fact  that 
every  one,  even  in  the  pit,  had  seats,  and  the  horse-shoe 
arrangement,  by  which  people  sat  face  to  face,  found 
approval  in  the  Baron's  eyes.     The  King  was  at  the 


THE  VAGRANT  305 

opera,  in  a  plain  box  to  the  right,  talking  all  the  time 
to  three  ladies. 

As  the  Baron  did  not  speak  any  English  on  this, 
his  first  visit  to  England,  he  could  form  no  opinion 
about  the  play  when  he  went  to  the  theatre,  though,  to 
judge  by  their  appearance,  the  actors  and  the  actresses 
seemed  good. 

Pollnitz  went  all  over  the  town,  admired  the  squares 
— more  of  them  than  in  any  other  city— though  the 
centres  were  enclosed  by  railings  ;  admired  the  great 
houses — Montague  House,  its  garden,  staircase,  and 
frescoes ;  the  magnificent  "  hotel  of  my  lord  Marl- 
borough," with  its  pictures,  especially  the  Van  Dyck's. 
He  climbed  the  Monument  on  Fish  H  ill,  for  the  view ; 
admired  the  Royal  Exchange,  and  criticized  the  statues 
of  Royalty.  That  of  Charles  II  he  praises,  and  tells 
the  story  of  that  of  Charles  I,  knocked  down  by  Crom- 
well's order,  bought  by  a  royalist,  a  worker  in  metal, 
under  pretext  of  melting  it  down,  buried  in  the  ground 
for  safety,  and,  finally,  replaced  in  position  at  the 
Restoration.  Such  a  triumph  of  the  monarchical  senti- 
ment was  quite  to  our  Baron's  mind. 

He  visited  the  Tower,  which  he  calls  "  the  Bastille 
of  London,"  "  though  it  is  not  so  easy  for  a  King  of 
England  to  fill  it  as  it  is  for  a  King  of  France  to  fill 
the  Bastille."  He  saw  the  lions  which  were  then  kept 
there — why  or  wherefore,  is  not  now  quite  evident — 
and  the  Arsenal,  "  one  of  the  most  complete  and  the 
best  kept  up  in  Europe."  This  tradition  is  well  main- 
tained at  the  present  day,  for  though  that  part  of  the 
Armoury  which  is  open  to  the  public  is  merely  a  museum 
of  ancient  and  curious  weapoiis,  there  are  stowed  away 
in  the  vaults  beneath  the  White  Tower  a  considerable 
amount  of  arms  of  all  sorts  of  quite  up-to-date  con- 
struction. 

Pollnitz  gazed  on  the  Regalia  and  describes  the  crowns. 
It  was  not  long  after  Colonel  Blood's  attempt  to  steal 
it,  and  Pollnitz  noted  how  carefully  they  were  enclosed 
in  a  stout  iron  grille.    This  has  quite  recently,  since  the 

1—20 


306  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

loss  of  the  Irish  Crown  Jewels,  been  strengthened,  and 
the  precautions  for  security  elaborately  improved. 

The  Horse  Armoury,  he  notes,  contains  figures  of 
all  the  Kings  of  England  on  horseback  in  armour,  from 
William  the  Conqueror  downwards.  Now  the  Tower 
does  contain  one  of  the  finest,  if  not  the  finest,  collec- 
tions of  armour  in  the  world,  but  can  hardly  be  said 
to  contain  the  armour  of  all  our  Kings. 

To  a  mind  like  that  of  Pollnitz,  always  maintaining 
that  "  the  study  of  mankind  is  man,"  the  English 
people  were  more  interesting  than  the  sights  of  their 
capital.  With  his  usual  perspicacity  he  studied  them 
attentively  during  his  stay,  and  describes  them  very 
faithfully. 

At  home,  the  Englishman  seemed  to  him  what  a 
Frenchman  is  when  out  of  his  own  country — proud, 
scornful,  admiring  nothing.  In  like  manner  the  English- 
man abroad  is  like  the  Frenchman  at  home,  gentle, 
well-bred,  affable.  It  appeared  to  him  that,  of  all  foreign 
nations,  the  English  "  only  really  liked  the  Italians, 
French  and  Germans  being  fairly  well  hated.''  The 
dislike  of  the  latter,  he  thought,  had  originated  since  the 
Hanoverian  succession,  "  because  the  people  thought 
that  English  money  was  being  spent  in  Germany."' 
They  seemed  to  think  that "  we  had  not  a  sou  before  they 
invited  the  House  of  Hanover  to  govern  them." 

As  to  the  dislike  of  the  French,  it  appeared  to  Pollnitz 
of  much  longer  standing  ;  "it  was  in  the  blood,  and 
extended  to  small  things,  such  as  dress.  It  was  enough 
for  any  fashion  to  be  French,  for  people  in  England  to 
wear  the  opposite,"  which  Pollnitz  thought  a  pity. 
"  For  they  have  no  taste  in  clothes  ...  no  nation  dresses 
so  badly  as  the  English,  and  it  is  only  because  they 
are  as  well  built  as  they  are  that  they  can  wear  such 
costumes." 

Equally  wanting  in  the  instinct  for  dress  the  Baron 
thought  the  English  ladies,  "  though  with  good  figures, 
mostly  pretty,  and  pleasant  to  become  acquainted 
with.  .  .  .  Though  always  very  neat  and  clean,  they  seem 


THE  VAGRANT  307 

to  try  to  disfigure  themselves."  However,  the  long 
cloak  with  slits  for  arms,  and  the  hood  tied  under  the 
chin,  was  not  unbecoming  to  pretty  people.  It  was 
used  "  for  going  out  when  en  deshabille,  especially  by 
the  bourgeoisie,  and  also  by  gay  ladies  going  to  rendez- 
vous at  inns  by  the  river  in  mysterious  boats,  covered 
and  lined  with  scarlet  cloth,  and  rowed  by  boatmen  as 
discreet  as  the  Venetian  gondoliers." 

Strange  as  it  may  appear,  Pollnitz,  though  so  used  to 
the  French,  and  the  vivacious  southern  nations,  speaks 
of  the  English  populace  as  lively  and  fond  of  amusing 
themselves.  In  other  countries  he  found  it  was  only 
the  rich  who  had  pleasures.  "  Next  to  play,  fights 
amuse  them  most,"  such  as  bull-fights  and  cock-fights, 
which  he  describes  at  length,  adding  that  "  no  other 
nation  in  the  world  likes  to  bet  as  much  as  the  English." 
He  also  saw  gladiatorial  combats,  as  he  calls  them, 
"  wretches  fighting  with  naked  swords,  and  often  wound- 
ing each  other,  a  very  popular  exhibition."  It  is  difficult 
to  understand  exactly  what  Pollnitz  means ;  is  he  con- 
fusing fencing  and  prize-fighting  ?  On  a  summer's 
evening  in  the  St.  James's  district,  he  saw  quarterstafE 
and  wrestling,  both  of  which  led  to  considerable  betting. 

He  went  down  to  Hampton  Court,  "  a  fine  country- 
house,  but  not  much  in  comparison  to  the  royal  country 
residences  in  France."  He  liked  Kensington  Palace, 
where  alterations  were  being  made,  and  the  pictures  it 
contained,  but  the  gardens  he  thought  not  fine  enough.  (!) 

The  small  hope  that  Pollnitz  had  of  obtaining  any 
employment  at  the  English  Court,  and  the  fact  that 
his  money  was  running  out,  made  him  in  a  hurry  to 
leave  London.  After  but  a  month's  stay  he  left  for 
Holland.  It  took  him  five  days  to  cross,  as  he  was 
becalmed  half  way,  and  then  off  the  mouth  of  the  Meuse 
he  met  with  a  violent  gale.  From  Rotterdam  he  went 
to  The  Hague  the  same  day,  to  renew  his  wardrobe  and 
refit  his  carriage.  For  this  it  was  necessary  to  borrow 
money. 


CHAPTEE   XXI 

Charles  and  Maurice  von  Pollnitz  had  still  been  under 
age  at  the  death  of  their  grandmother,  Eleanora  of 
Nassau,  who  had  bequeathed  her  fortune  between  these 
two  grandsons  and  her  niece,  Henrietta  Charlotte.  The 
latter,  as  the  eldest  of  the  family,  claimed  the  right  of 
receiving  the  income  from  it ;  it  was  paid  over  to  her 
entirely,  for  her  receipt.  She  then  handed  over  a  third 
to  Charles  and  Maurice  respectively,  continuing  to  do  so 
even  after  these  two  had  attained  their  majorities. 

Upon  this  income  the  Baron,  on  arriving  at  The 
Hague,  gave  assignments  to  a  money-lender.  He 
gladly  accepted  these,  but  he  required  a  further 
guarantee  that  Henrietta  Charlotte  would  pay  them. 
Pollnitz  begged  him  to  write  to  her  on  the  subject — 

"  But,  as  this  kind  relative  never  wished  me  any 
good,  she  thought  well  to  cross  me  about  the  scheme 
that  I  had  planned  to  make  money.  She  did  not 
honour  me  myself  with  any  reply,  but  wrote  to  my 
creditors,  and  warned  them  not  to  trust  me  ;  saying 
that  I  was  only  trying  to  take  them  in,  that  I  had  no 
share  in  this  income,  and  that  what  I  told  them  about 
it  was  a  lie.  My  money-lenders  were  aghast  at  such 
news,  and  thought  that  they  were  dealing  with  a  thief 
who  was  laying  a  trap  for  them,  and  against  whom  they 
would  be  powerless  if  I  managed  to  escape.  On  my  part 
I  did  all  I  could  to  reassure  them.  I  told  them  that 
Fraulein  von  Pollnitz  had  not  spoken  the  truth,  and  that 
I  was  doing  my  best  to  make  her  cancel  the  letters  that 
she  had  written.  Further,  I  offered  to  pay  them  out  of 
the  money  I  was  going  to  draw  from  my  estates.     But 

308 


THE  VAGRANT  309 

all  I  said  to  them  had  no  effect ;  their  suspicions  were 
so  deeply  rooted  that,  in  order  to  make  sure  of  their 
debts,  they  decided  to  have  me  arrested. 

"  This  they  did,  and,  one  Sunday  morning,  I  saw  very 
ungracious  visitors  arrive  to  beg  me  to  betake  myself 
with  a  good  grace  to  the  prisons  of  The  Hague,  unless 
I  wished  to  be  removed  thither  by  force.  I  was  some- 
what staggered  by  this  visit,  foreseeing  myself  losing  my 
liberty,  and  for  a  long  time,  when  Madame  Pyll,  a  Hague 
shopkeeper,  to  whom  I  already  owed  something,  was 
kind  enough  to  advance  me  what  was  necessary  to  pay 
off  my  creditors,  and  so  I  extricated  myself  from  their 
importunate  grip. 

"  But,  a  few  days  after  this  adventure,  other  creditors, 
who  had  got  wind  of  what  had  happened,  thought  that 
if  they  acted  in  the  same  way  they  would  infallibly  be 
paid.     So  they  also  decided  to  have  me  arrested. 

"  In  fact,  at  six  in  the  morning  I  was  warned  that 
something  was  on  foot  against  me,  and  that  constables 
were  approaching  to  seize  me.  I  had  my  boots  on  and 
was  in  my  dressing-gown,  but  I  thought  it  best  not  to 
amuse  myself  by  finishing  dressing,  and  as  I  knew  that 
there  were  not  many  people  about  in  the  streets  of  The 
Hague  at  that  hour,  I  decided  to  escape  in  my  dressing- 
gown.  I  fled  to  my  dear  Madame  Pyll.  I  should  have 
wished  this  kind  shopkeeper  to  have  again  appeased 
these  mad  dogs,  but  I  dare  not  suggest  it  to  her.  I  only 
asked  her  to  keep  me  hidden  for  a  time.  This  she  did 
with  pleasure.  But  I  soon  had  to  flee  again.  I'he 
constables  had  been  told  of  my  retreat,  and  were  coming 
to  drag  me  out  of  it,  when  the  shopkeeper  let  me  out  by 
a  back  door.  She  lent  me  a  cloak  in  which  to  wi^ap 
myself,  and,  thus  disguised,  I  thought  only  of  getting 
out  of  The  Hague. 

"  I  got  into  the  boat  for  Delft,  and  sought  out  Texena, 
a  rich  Portuguese,  who  had  a  house  a  league  out  of  the 
town.'' 

Texena  proved  a  generous  friend  to  Pollnitz,  lending 


310  A  VAGABOND   COURTIEK 

him  money,  and  sending  him  to  the  chateau  of  Houslar- 
dyck,  where  he  stayed  two  days.  The  wife  of  the  porter 
there  had  been  lady's  maid  to  Pollnitz's  mother,  and  did 
all  in  her  power  for  him.  She  went  to  Mme  Pyll  and  told 
her  where  the  Baron  was.  The  latter  brought  him  his 
luggage. 

Afraid  of  returning  to  the  town  to  deal  with  the 
creditors  who  were  following  him,  lest  others  should 
appear  and  demand  a  settlement,  PoUnitz  decided  to 
go  to  Germany.  Thence  he  could  write  home  and  settle 
his  affairs,  for,  on  account  of  some  unknown  reason,  he 
was  still  forbidden  to  go  to  Berlin. 

He  made  up  his  mind  to  seek  out  Count  L ,  to 

whom  he  had  lent  two  hundred  ducats  seven  or  eight 
years  before,  and  who  was  in  the  Elector  Palatine's 
service.  Pollnitz  had  been  told  that  the  Count  was 
quartered  at  Aix-la-Chapelle.  He  went  by  Bois-le-Duc, 
thence,  "  in  a  vehicle  they  call  a  diligence  "  to  Maes- 
tricht.  There  he  fell  in  with  an  Englishman,  on  his 
way  to  drink  the  waters  at  Aix,  and  ''  evidently  over- 
loaded with  guineas,  as  every  moment  he  exclaimed 
about  the  cheapness  of  things  on  this  side  of  the  sea." 
But  a  little  adventure  at  Maestricht  made  him  change 
his  mind.  He  went  out  alone  when  they  arrived, 
saying  that  he  was  going  to  take  a  walk. 

Falling  into  doubtful  company  at  a  tavern — 

"  When  he  had  emptied  several  bottles  he  laid  down 
a  guinea.  The  hostess  demanded  another.  The  English- 
man demurred,  and  grew  angry  over  the  price  asked. 
Doubtless  he  failed  in  respect  towards  the  good  company 
in  which  he  found  himself.  The  angry  landlady  threw 
herself  upon  the  Englishman  like  a  lunatic.  This  fury 
was  abetted  by  two  others,  and  all  three  beat  the  English- 
man, tore  his  cravat,  and  turned  him  out  of  the  door 
without  returning  him  his  wig. 

"  To  make  matters  worse  it  poured,  was  pitch  dark, 
and  he  could  not  see  his  way.  He  did  not  know  how  to 
ask  it,  and  moreover,  had  forgotten  the  name  of  his  inn. 


THE  VAGEANT  311 

and  that  of  the  street  in  which  he  had  alighted.  Tired 
of  running  about  the  streets  in  such  weather,  he  began  to 
knock  at  every  door,  only  receiving  abuse  in  reply. 
The  watch  surprised  him  while  he  was  making  all  this 
noise,  and  took  him  to  the  guard-room.  .  .  .  Happily  the 
officer  on  duty  believed  his  story,  and  lent  him  a  cloak 
and  an  escort.  They  went  round  knocking  at  several 
inns,  which  were  not  the  one  he  wanted,  and,  unless  he 
had  had  the  escort  with  him  there  would  certainly  have 
been  an  uproar.  Finally,  as  they  were  wandering  about 
seeking  an  inn,  which  neither  one  nor  the  other  knew, 
the  Englishman's  servant,  who  was  himself  looking  for 
his  master,  met  him  and  brought  him  home.'' 

But  the  adventure  caused  PoUnitz  a  very  bad  night. 
The  Englishman  was  to  sleep  in  his  room,  and  the  Baron, 
very  tired,  had  gone  to  bed  directly  after  supper. 

"  The  Englishman's  servant,  who  was  waiting  for  his 
master  in  my  room,  annoyed  me  awfully  ;  finding  it 
growing  late  and  his  master  not  returned,  he  came, 
from  time  to  time,  to  consult  me  as  to  what  he  should  do, 
and  it  was  I,  who,  in  order  to  get  rid  of  him,  suggested 
that  he  should  go  out  and  look  for  him.  But,  directly 
they  returned,  I  had  to  hear  the  whole  story  of  the 
adventure.  The  servant  waxed  exceedingly  wroth  with 
the  good  people  who  had  insulted  his  master ;  he 
suggested  that  they  should  sally  forth  at  once,  break 
in  the  doors,  and  throw  everything  out  of  window. 
However,  his  master  thought  it  better  to  bear  his  insults 
with  patience,  and  to  rest  from  his  fatigues." 

Pollnitz  did  not  find  Count  L at  Aix  ;   he  was  in 

the  Palatinate.  So  he  bade  adieu  to  his  Englishman, 
and  went  to  Cologne,  "  the  dullest  town  in  Europe, 
nothing  heard  but  the  ringing  of  bells,  and  monks  and 
students,  singing  for  alms.  There  are  more  houses  than 
people.  But  the  inhabitants  are  well  lodged.  The 
citizen  must  be  poor  indeed  who  does  not  live  in  a  house 


312  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

to  himself."  Bonn  was  infinitely  preferable  as  a  residence 
to  the  ecclesiastical  city,  and  hither  the  Bishop,  the 
exiled  Elector,  whom  the  Baron  had  visited  when  he  was 
living  under  French  protection  during  the  war,  at 
Valenciennes,  had  returned.  A  very  martial  Bishop, 
wearing,  to  every  one's  surprise,  a  long  sword,  as  the 
Head  of  a  Military  Order,  but  withal  a  nice-looking, 
good-living  man,  fond  of  hunting,  in  moderation.  The 
Electorate  of  Cologne  was  the  bulwark  of  Romanism 
among  Protestant  States. 

When  the  Elector  returned  he  found  his  good  town 
of  Bonn  in  a  terrible  state  from  the  devastations  of  the 
war,  houses  destroyed,  the  palace  ruined.  He  restored 
everything,  built  a  new  palisade  round  the  city,  and, 
later  on,  built  the  peculiar  chateau  at  Popalsdorf,  in 
the  shape  of  a  circle. 

At  Cologne  PoUnitz  fell  ill  with  fever ;  but  he  pushed 
on  up  the  Rhine  by  boat  "  to  avoid  the  disagreeable 
mountains  of  Wataravia,"'  and  was  not  tired,  only  rather 
bored,  though  stopping  at  Linz  to  refill  his  canteen  with 
some  of  the  good  Rhine  wine  of  that  district,  which  he 
had  much  appreciated  at  Liege.  Then  on  to  Andernach. 
"  Here  the  Rhine  becomes  restrained  by  high  mountains, 
high  enough  to  recall  to  me  unpleasant  memories  of  the 
Alps.  These  furious  rocks  are  cultivated  to  their 
summits,  and  produce  excellent  wines."  The  river  at 
Andernach  was  crowded  with  great  rafts  of  timber  being 
propelled  down  stream  on  their  journey  to  Holland,  by 
boatmen,  who  lived  in  little  sheds  built  on  them.  Ander- 
nach was  a  great  place  for  the  sale  of  bottles  and  stone 
jars  containing  the  mineral  waters  of  Dunchstein,  to 
drink  with  the  wine.  Across  the  Rhine  Pollnitz  was 
pointed  out  the  ruined  castle  of  the  Count  of  Neuwied, 
"  where  the  vulgar  think  the  Devil  lives."  The  Count  of 
Neuwied's  wife  was  an  acquaintance  of  the  Baron's, 
being  a  daughter  of  Count  Dohna,  tutor  to  Frederic 
William  in  the  old  days  when  he  and  Pollnitz  were  boys 
together  at  the  Academic  des  Nobles. 

But  our  Baron  was  not  in  health  for  society.     At 


THE  VAGRANT  313 

Andernach  the  fever  returned,  and  he  was  so  ill  that 
he  could  proceed  no  farther.  The  hostess  of  the  inn 
suggested  a  clever  doctor  a  few  leagues  off,  and  Pollnitz 
"  dragged  himself  thither."  In  a  fortnight  the  fever 
had  left  him.  So  he  went  on  to  Coblenz,  where  Count 
Schonborn,  Bishop  of  Treves,  lived  in  the  palace  below 
Ehrenbreitstein.  There  he  felt  worse  than  ever,  and 
went  down  again  to  the  same  doctor,  where  he  spent 
another  fortnight.  He  grew  worse,  however,  his  head 
*'  became  as  weak  as  his  body,"  and  he  thought  he  should 
never  recover  where  he  was.  Moreover,  he  took  a  great 
dislike  to  the  doctor.  He  declined  to  see  him  any  more, 
and,  in  spite  of  all  warnings  against  attempting  to 
travel,  put  himself  back  in  the  boat  for  Cologne.  Here 
he  went  to  a  doctor  he  knew,  whose  drugs,  "  either 
because  of  their  virtue  or  because  of  the  strength  of 
my  imagination,"  gradually  cured  the  fever. 

When  quite  well  again  Pollnitz  rowed  up  the  Ehine 
once  more  to  Mainz.  He  chronicles  the  fortress  of 
Rheinfels,  above  S.  Goar,  with  a  long  and  glorious 
history  of  defence,  and  then  strongly  garrisoned  by  the 
Landgrave  of  Hesse-Cassel ;  but,  with  the  singular 
insensibility  of  his  century  to  beauty  of  scenery,  is 
silent  with  regard  to  his  journey  up  the  most  lovely 
part  of  the  Khine  Valley.  The  Bingenloch  is  only  "  the 
fall  of  the  Rhine  between  two  rocks,  the  most  dangerous 
passage  of  all  the  Rhine ;  but  there  is  nothing  to  fear, 
unless  your  rowers  are  drunk,  which  is  common  enough 
here,  where  the  juice  of  the  grape  is  to  be  had  for  next 
to  nothing."  He  declined,  with  his  usual  scepticism, 
to  believe  the  story  of  the  "  Rats'  Tower  and  the  bar- 
barous prelate,"  and  his  rowers  told  him  that  he  "  was 
not  a  good  Catholic." 

The  Baron  is  far  more  interested  in  the  different 
brands  of  Rhenish  wine. 

**  Bingen  has  the  best  in  all  the  Rheingau.  The  wine 
at  Bacharach,  sung  by  the  French  in  drinking  songs,  is 
out  of  fashion  with  gourmets,  who  are  so  delicate  here 


314  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEK 

that  they  will  tell  you  the  year  and  the  brand  by  only 
moistening  their  lips.  It  is  said  that  Ridelsbach  and 
Johannesberg  are  the  best ;  my  taste,  not  so  delicate, 
found  Bacharach  quite  good,  and  I  could  make  myself 
happy  if  obliged  to  drink  nothing  else/' 

Pollnitz  had  hoped  to  find  his  relations  at  Mainz, 
but  they  were  on  their  estates  in  Franc onia,  "  which 
embarrassed  me  very  much,  for  I  really  did  not  know 
what  to  do."  So  he  decided  to  go  to  his  brother  at 
Zell,  and  happily  found  a  vehicle  at  Frankfurt,  going 
to  Hanover.  No  question  of  post-chaises  now !  But, 
when  he  reached  Zell,  he  found  his  brother  was  at 
Berlin  ! 

Pollnitz  decided  to  go  there,  but,  upon  consideration, 
not  wishing  to  be  seen  at  Berlin,  went  to  Leipzig,  whence 
he  wi'ote  to  his  man  of  business,  "  to  know  how  matters 
stood,  and  if  it  were  not  possible  to  put  my  affairs  in 
some  order.'" 

The  reply  was  that  no  arrangement  was  possible  so 
long  as  the  estates  were  attached.  That,  indeed,  a  loan 
might  enable  his  client  to  arrange  with  the  creditors, 
but  that  he  did  not  see  his  way  to  raising  one,  as  Fraulein 
von  Pollnitz,  on  whom  the  Baron's  property  was  en- 
tailed, would  not  agree  to  it.  He  ended  by  saying  that 
the  only  way  was  to  obtain  a  Letter  of  Command  from 
the  King  of  Prussia. 

"  I  knew  as  well  as  he  did  that  a  Letter  of  Command 
was  the  shortest  way  of  extricating  me  from  my  pre- 
dicament ;  but  how  to  get  it,  when  I  had  not  permission 
to  appear  at  Court !  However,  I  thought  that  I  ought 
to  leave  no  stone  unturned  in  order  to  obtain  this  per- 
mission, which  had  been  refused  me  so  often." 

So  Pollnitz  decided  to  implore  the  patronage  of  the 
Prince  of  Anhalt-Dessau,  who,  with  his  sister,  had  so 
often  been  kind  to  their  relative.  He  went  to  Dessau, 
which  is  only  six  leagues  from  Leipzig. 


THE   VAGKANT  315 

The  Prince  was  not  expected  home  till  the  evening, 
but  the  Duchess  of  Radzivil,  his  eldest  sister,  in  response 
to  poor  Pollnitz's  prayers,  kindly  sent  one  of  her  people 
to  him,  promising  to  do  all  she  could  for  him,  and  asking 
for  a  letter  to  show  her  brother.  PoUnitz  had  great 
hopes,  which,  however,  were  soon  to  be  shattered. 

Leopold  of  Anhalt-Dessau  was  Frederic  William's 
great  friend,  straightforward  to  bluntness,  austere, 
like  himself.  His  only  reply  was  to  suggest  to  his  sister 
to  get  Pdllnitz  out  of  Dessau  as  soon  as  possible,  as,  if 
he  stayed  there,  he  should  be  obliged  to  arrest  him  ! 
The  Duchess  couched  this  reply  in  as  gracious  terms  as 
she  could,  and  added  a  sum  of  money  of  which  she  made 
no  doubt  that  Pollnitz  had  need. 

The  latter  knew  the  bluff  soldier  with  whom  he  had 
to  deal.  He  doubted  not  that  his  acts  would  follow 
quickly  on  his  threats,  and  so  promptly  ordered  a  chaise 
to  convey  him  to  the  Court  of  the  Duke  of  Saxe-Weissen- 
fels,  where  he  had  a  friend. 

"  But  I  could  find  neither  horse  nor  chaise  in  all  the 
little  town  of  Dessau  ;  no  one  would  stir  on  account 
of  the  sanctity  of  the  day  (it  was  the  fourth  Sunday 
in  Advent).  But  so  much  was  I  in  dread  of  the  Prince's 
anger  that  I  determined  to  start  on  foot.  I  took  my 
portmanteau,  then  my  only  baggage,  put  it  on  a  man's 
shoulder,  and  walked  with  him  to  a  little  town  in  the 
Duchy  of  Magdeburg,  where  I  took  a  chaise  for  Barbi." 

Here  Pollnitz  was  well  received  by  his  old  friend 
the  Baron  de  Chaselac.  He  was  a  native  of  Guienne, 
one  of  the  many  French  refugees  who  had  sought  shelter 
in  Prussia  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  had  been 
appointed  tutor  to  the  fatherless  young  Prince  Leopold 
of  Anhalt-Dessau.  Pollnitz  tells  a  story  of  the  re- 
lationship between  tutor  and  pupil  which  does  credit 
to  both. 

Chaselac  found  the  young  Prince  to  be  of  an  im- 
petuous temperament  which  he  had  some  difficulty  in 


316  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

moderating.  He  took  him  for  a  tour  in  Italy.  Now 
Leopold  had  fallen  desperately  in  love  with  a  Fraulein 
von  Fohsen  at  the  Court  of  Prussia.  This  inclination 
did  not  please  his  mother,  the  Princess  of  Orange,  who 
imagined  that,  by  sending  him  away,  she  could  cure  him 
of  his  passion. 

"  Chaselac,  who  has  been  my  special  friend,  and  whose 
memory  I  hold  dear,  has  told  me  that  the  great  vivacity 
and  unruliness  of  the  Prince  often  gave  him  much 
trouble  ;  but  that  yet,  notwithstanding  any  excesses  into 
which  the  Prince  fell,  he  could  always  bring  him  back  by 
appealing  to  his  honour  and  his  ambition.  He  told  me 
in  reference  to  this,  how,  when  at  Venice,  the  Prince 
came  in  one  morning  drunk,  after  having  spent  the  night 
in  debauchery.  M.  de  Chaselac  upbraided  him  for  his 
conduct  in  perhaps  too  strong  terms,  at  least  the  young 
Prince  thought  so. 

*'  He  ran  and  seized  a  pistol,  and,  pointing  it  at  his 
tutor,  cried  :    '  Dog  !     I  must  kill  you  !  ' 

"  M.  de  Chaselac,  without  being  disconcerted,  looked 
straight  at  the  Prince  :  '  Very  well,  kill  me,'  he  replied. 
'  But  think  what  a  blot  it  will  be  on  history  when  people 
read  that  a  Prince  of  Anhalt,  a  Prince  of  a  family  which 
has  given  Emperors  to  Germany,  has  assassinated  his 
tutor  !  ' 

"  These  words,  spoken  authoritatively,  made  a  deep 
impression  upon  the  young  Prince. 

"  '  Ma  foi  !  '  he  said,  putting  up  his  pistol.  '  You're 
right.     I  was  going  to  do  a  vile  deed  !  '  " 

Leopold,  it  may  be  added,  returned  from  Italy  as 
much  in  love  with  Fraulein  von  Fohsen  as  ever.  He 
married  her  at  twenty-two,  and  they  had  a  large  family. 

The  man  who  could  thus  check  Anhalt  was  not 
likely,  if  he  thought  it  right,  to  spare  poor  Pollnitz, 
now  in  chastened  mood,  and  in  very  low  water.  Though 
he  received  him  "  as  well  as  he  could  have  wished, '*  he 
scolded  him  on  the  state  of  his  affairs,  and  advised  him 


THE  VAGRANT  317 

to  go  and  find  his  brother,  and  to  concert  with  him 
suitable  steps  about  their  property.  He  lent  Pollnitz 
forty  crowns  for  the  journey,  and  kept  him  with  him  till 
over  Christmas,  by  which  time  Maurice  von  Pollnitz 
was  back  at  Zell. 

Charles  found  his  brother  well  disposed  towards  him. 
Maurice  raised  his  suspicions  about  his  man  of  business, 
advising  him  to  change  him  for  his  own,  who  was 
reliable.  Charles  gave  his  brother  full  powers  to  ex- 
amine his  lawyer's  accounts,  and  Maurice  pointed  out 
to  him  where  he  had  been  cheated.  But  he  went 
further.  He  gave  Charles  money,  and  put  his  affairs  on 
such  a  footing  that,  in  a  short  time,  the  latter  was  able 
to  satisfy  his  creditors,  and  yet  keep  sufficient  to  live 
upon. 

"  It  was  then  a  question  of  knowing  which  way  to 
turn  that  one  might  be  able  at  least  to  say  that  one 
had  done  something  in  this  world.  I  should  have  liked 
the  arm.y,  but  there  was  no  war,  nor  any  sign  of  any 
soon.'' 

Pollnitz  had  knocked  in  vain  at  the  door  of  too  many 
palaces  to  wish  to  begin  again.  "  I  might  indeed  have 
returned  to  Spain,  where  I  had  found  employment,  but 
what  was  to  become  of  me  when  the  salaries  were  in 
airrears,  and  I  had  to  keep  up  appearances  ?  " 

There  seemed  no  career  open,  no  profession  that  he 
could  adopt.     Then  some  one  suggested  the  Church. 

*'  This  proposal  seemed  to  me,  at  first,  a  little  odd  ; 
yet,  when  I  began  to  think  about  it,  I  perceived  that, 
perhaps,  it  would  not  be  a  bad  line  to  take,  that,  sooner 
or  later,  I  should  not  fail  to  obtain  something  ;  in  short, 
a  number  of  very  human  motives  gave  birth  in  my  mind 
to  a  plan  which  could  not  have  been  other  than  a 
vocation."  (!) 

After  this  extraordinary  statement  we  learn  that  the 
Baron  was  advised  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  Cardinal 


318  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

de  Saxe,  who  was  at  Kegensburg.  This  Prince,  himself 
a  Lutheran  who  had  become  a  Catholic,  made  much  of 
converts. 

Maurice  von  Pollnitz  accompanied  his  brother  as  far 
as  Brunswick.  At  that  Court,  also  well  inclined  to 
any  one  who  had  followed  the  Duke's  example  and 
become  a  Romanist,  they  remained  some  days.  Then 
Pollnitz  went  to  Barbi,  to  de  Chaselac.  The  latter  was 
delighted  with  the  arrangements  Charles  had  made  with 
his  brother,  and  with  the  frame  of  mind  in  which  he 
found  him.  After  spending  a  few  days  with  his  friend, 
Pollnitz  went  by  Leipzig,  Zeizt,  Hof,  Bayreuth,  and 
Erlangen  to  Nuremberg. 

After  two  days'  stay  "  in  one  of  the  dullest  towns  in 
Europe,"  he  went  on  to  Eichstadt,  having  a  letter  of 
introduction  to  the  Prince-Bishop  of  that  see. 

The  Bishop  received  Pollnitz  very  graciously,  and  with 
much  ceremony,  "  sending  one  of  his  coaches  to  fetch 
me.  He  was  seated  because  he  was  suffering  severely 
from  gout,  and  begged  me  to  be  seated  also.  After  a 
long  conversation,  he  invited  me  to  supper."  An  ex- 
cellent concert  by  his  large  band  afterwards  took  place 
in  his  room. 

For  five  or  six  days  Pollnitz,  full  of  his  newly  con- 
ceived ecclesiastical  project,  paid  his  respects  at  Eich- 
stadt— 

"  And  when  I  left  the  Bishop  presented  me  with  a 
large  snuff-box,  weighing  twenty-five  ducats,  which  he 
took  out  of  a  cabinet  he  showed  me,  and  where  I  saw 
a  quantity  of  valuable  jewels,  including  a  cross  of 
diamonds  worth  five  or  six  hundred  florins.  This  prelate 
had  the  politeness  to  defray  my  bill  at  the  inn,  so  that 
I  was  much  astonished,  when  I  came  to  settle,  to  find 
that  I  owed  nothing,  except  to  this  Prince." 


CHAPTER   XXII 

The  Baron  spent  four  months  at  Regensburg,  pay- 
ing his  court  to  the  Cardinal  Commissioner  of  the 
Emperor  to  the  Diet,  in  the  hope  of  receiving  from 
that  functionary  some  ecclesiastical  preferment,  in  re- 
turn for  which  he  was  quite  in  the  mood  to  take  the 
tonsure. 

Cardinal  de  Saxe  was  a  brother  of  the  Duke  of  Saxe- 
Zeizt,  one  of  the  several  branches  of  the  house  of  Wettin. 
Both  the  brothers  were  converts  to  Roman  Catholicism. 
At  the  death  of  the  Duke,  who  left  only  a  daughter, 
the  duchy,  which  should  have  passed  to  the  Cardinal 
and  one  of  his  nephews,  was  wrested  from  them  by 
an  article  in  the  Treaty  of  Westphalia,  on  account  of 
their  change  of  religion.  The  King  of  Poland,  as  head 
of  the  Saxon  family,  took  possession  of  the  duchy,  pay- 
ing the  debts  of  the  late  Duke,  and  granting  a  sum  of 
money  to  the  Cardinal  and  the  young  Princes.  He 
governed  the  little  State  by  a  Regency. 

Austria,  ever  favourably  disposed  to  converts,  had 
not  only  bestowed  upon  the  Cardinal  the  coveted  purple, 
but  also  had  appointed  him  Imperial  Commissioner  to 
the  Diet,  the  most  distinguished  piece  of  patronage  in 
the  Emperor's  hands.  The  Commissioner  yielded  pre- 
cedence to  no  monarch,  nor  to  any  delegate  to  the  Diet. 
His  pomp  and  state  were  in  keeping  with  his  dignity. 
He  kept  guards  and  was  served  by  gentlemen,  and 
when  he  gave  audience  to  the  Electoral  Envoys  he  did 
not  receive  them  upon  terms  of  equality,  and  the  coveted 
arm-chair  played  an  important  part  in  the  ceremony. 
The  delegates  of  the  Free  Cities  of  the  Empire  were  only 
allowed  a  straight-backed  seat.    When  the  Commissioner 

319 


320  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

entertained  the  envoys  of  the  Electors  and  Princes  at 
dinner,  he  himself  sat  in  the  chief  place. 

Several  of  these  latter  spoke  to  the  Cardinal  in  PoU- 
nitz's  favour,  and  it  appeared  to  them  that  he  was  well 
inclined  to  our  hero.  But  time  slipped  away,  and  nothing 
came  of  the  Cardinal's  civility.  Pollnitz,  therefore, 
determined  to  bring  him  to  the  point. 

"  The  Cardinal  was  kind  enough  not  to  refuse  me 
to  my  face  ;  he  sent  me  word,  by  the  envoy  of  an  Elector 
who  had  been  interpolating  on  my  behalf,  that  it  was 
no  use  ray  waiting  at  Regensburg,  as  he  could  do  nothing 
for  me.  He  even  added,  without  giving  any  reason, 
that,  even  if  the  whole  Diet  should  intercede  in  my 
favour,  he  could  not  help  me.  This  speech  did  not 
appear  to  me  sufficiently  ambiguous  for  me  to  continue 
my  appeal.'' 

The  Baron,  however,  could  not  tear  himself  away 
before  the  great  entertainment  with  which  Count 
Plattenberg,  whom  he  had  met  when  at  Cologne,  was 
about  to  celebrate  his  master  the  Bishop  of  Miinster's 
elevation  to  the  coadjutorship  of  Cologne,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  marriage  of  the  same  master's  brother, 
Charles  Albert,  Electoral  Prince  of  Bavaria — Pollnitz's 
companion  on  the  Salzburg  trip — to  the  Emperor's 
niece,  daughter  of  the  late  Emperor  Joseph.  For  the 
occasion  Plattenberg  had  a  hall  built  and  several  tents 
put  up  outside  the  gates  of  Regensburg.  The  Cardinal 
de  Saxe  was  present,  all  the  Envoys  and  their  wives, 
and  the  heau  monde  of  the  city  of  the  Diet.  There 
was  supper  in  the  hall,  cards  in  the  tents,  fireworks,  and 
a  ball  which  lasted  till  dawn. 

The  following  day  the  Cardinal  left  for  Hungary, 
to  preside  as  Primate  of  the  Diet  at  Buda.  It  had  been 
specially  convened  to  arrange  about  the  succession. 
The  Emperor  Charles  VI  had  only  two  daughters,  and 
it  was  important  that  the  eldest,  Maria  Theresa,  should 
inherit  the  Hapsburg  hereditary  dominions. 


THE  VAGRANT  321 

Pollnitz  took  his  leave  of  the  Electoral  Ministers  and 
Envoys. 

*'  I  had  received  all  sorts  of  kindnesses  from  these, 
and  most  of  them  were  not  content  with  treating  me  as 
politely  as  possible  ;  they  had  gone  further,  and,  knowing 
the  situation  of  my  afiairs,  had  acted  towards  me  with 
a  generosity  of  which  I  shall  retain  an  eternal  grati- 
tude, happy  if  some  day  I  could  afford  them  proof  of  it ! 
The  only  I  can  now  give  is  to  mention  them  by  name.'' 

Count  von  Konigsfelt,  whom  the  Baron  had  known 
during  the  merry  summer  he  had  spent  at  his  master's 
Court  at  Munich  and  at  Nymphenberg,  "  was  one  of 
those  who  worked  hardest  with  the  Cardinal  to  try  and 
gain  for  me  what  I  wished.  This  Minister  spent  money 
lavishly  at  Regensburg,"  and  lived  in  great  splendour. 
Baron  von  Kirchner,  the  Deputy  of  the  Cardinal  Com- 
missioner, who  bore  the  title  of  the  Commissioner  of 
the  Diet,  Herr  von  Finsberg,  Envoy  of  Hanover,  Dur- 
renberg,  Envoy  of  Hesse-Cassel,  von  Hagen,  Envoy  of 
the  Duke  of  Saxe-Gotha,  all  Courts  where  Pollnitz 
had  been  well  received  and  appreciated,  warmly  sup- 
ported Kirchner's  appeal  for  him,  and,  what  was  more, 
freely  opened  their  purses  to  him. 

Business  now  called  Pollnitz  to  Diisseldorf  to  confer 
with  his  brother  over  a  lawsuit  which  they  and  their 
cousin  Henrietta  Charlotte  had  undertaken  together. 
On  his  way  the  Baron  stayed  a  few  days  at  Wiirz- 
burg.  It  was  the  Festival  of  St.  Kilian,  the  patron 
saint  of  the  great  cathedral,  famous  for  its  magnificent 
tapestries  of  stories  of  the  Old  Testament,  its  solid 
silver  vases,  candelabra,  and  images  of  the  saints. 

The  Duke-Bishop  of  Franconia  was  the  richest  and 
the  most  distinguished  of  the  three  great  ecclesiastical 
rulers  in  Central  Germany,  and  during  the  five  years  of 
his  episcopate  one  of  the  most  magnificent  of  the  pre- 
lates who  had  ever  occupied  the  see.  The  Baron  saw 
him  in  all  his  glory,  "  his  Court  and  Household  larger 

I — 21 


322  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

than  that  of  any  other  German  Prince,"  go  in  grand 
procession  to  the  cathedral. 

A  man  of  great  taste  and  a  lover  of  art,  this  magnificent 
Duke-Bishop  was  building  on  to  the  cathedral  a  chapel 
lined  with  marble,  and  full  of  gilt  bronze ;  on  it 
Italian  workmen  were  engaged,  working  in  great  haste, 
*'  because,"  as  the  Bishop  told  Pollnitz,  "  I  intend  it 
for  my  burial-place." 

As  the  road  leading  up  to  the  old  castle  on  the  hill 
above  the  town  was  too  steep  for  coaches,  this  princely 
prelate  was  also  busy  building  the  vast  Renaissance 
palace  which  we  admire  to-day.  He  had  designed  it 
himself,  but  in  four  years  only  two- thirds  of  the  huge 
building  had  been  completed,  and,  though  roofed  in, 
it  was  unfinished  at  his  death. 

The  Bishop  showed  Pollnitz  the  plan  of  the  palace 
as  it  was  to  be  when  completed,  "  one  of  the  finest 
in  Europe  .  .  .  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet  front- 
age, and  five  great  courtyards.  .  .  .  The  staircase  to 
be  of  marble,  likewise  the  chapel,  guard-room,  and 
state  apartments."  In  order  to  lay  out  the  gardens, 
the  Bishop  was  throwing  down  ramparts  and  filling 
ditches.  Immense,  massive,  splendid,  the  palace  ap- 
pears to  us  to-day  more  imposing  than  Versailles. 

Pollnitz  saw  the  fine  hall  in  the  Grand  Hospital,  with 
sculpture,  gilded  and  painted,  where  the  Bishop,  on 
Holy  Thursday,  was  wont  to  wash  the  paupers'  feet 
and  serve  them  at  meals.  There  were  sixteen  of  these 
hospitals  in  Wiirzburg,  used  not  only  for  the  sick,  but 
also  as  almshouses,  or  workhouses,  for  the  poor.  Built 
by  a  former  Bishop,  "  it  looked  more  like  the  palace  of 
a  Prince."  Behind  lay  beautifully  kept  gardens  for 
walking  in,  with  an  orangery  and  fountains. 

Our  Baron  toiled  up  the  steep  hill  to  the  old  castle, 
and  inspected  first  the  well-stored  arsenal,  holding 
arms  for  some  forty  thousand  men,  "  a  temple  of  Mars 
rather  than  the  palace  of  a  Minister  of  Peace."  He 
then  descended  into  the  vast  cellars. 

If  the  arsenal  was — 


THE  VAGRANT  323 

"  Filled  with  all  that  Mars  and  Bellona  have  invented 
for  the  destruction  of  man,  the  cellars  are  provided  with 
all  that  can  satisfy  an  army  of  drunkards.  If  you  are 
coming  here,  and  your  curiosity  leads  you  to  these  ware- 
houses of  Mars  and  Bacchus,  I  advise  you  to  begin  with 
the  arsenal,  especially  should  you  be  escorted  by  any 
gentleman  of  this  Court,  who,  though  very  polite,  con- 
sider that  every  visitor  owes  it  to  them  to  lose  his 
wits  in  these  cellars.     I  speak  from  experience. 

"  Three  days  ago,  I  happened  to  say  to  the  Bishop 
that  I  wished  to  see  the  castle.  The  Prince,  to  do  me 
honour,  ordered  one  of  his  gentlemen  to  accompany 
me  thither.  This  good  man,  apparently  afraid  lest 
I  should  be  bored  by  a  tete-a-tete,  made  up  a  farti  carre  ; 
he  chose  two  drinkers  whom  Silenus  would  not  have 
disowned  for  his  offspring.  Being  imaware  of  these 
gentlemen's  eminent  qualities,  I  abandoned  myself 
into  their  hands  without  the  slightest  suspicion  of  any 
misfortune.  They  showed  me  everything — state  apart- 
ments, arsenal,  fortifications,  and  then  took  me  to  the 
cellar,  which  I  found  lit  up  like  a  cha/pelle  ardente 
which  was  to  be  used  for  my  funeral.  This  latter  was 
conducted  with  all  pomp.  The  clink  of  the  glasses 
served  as  bells ;  for  tears,  wine  was  poured  forth ;  and 
at  last,  when  the  service  was  over,  two  Hungarian 
haiduks  bore  me  to  a  coach,  and  thence  to  my  bed, 
which  was  to  be  my  grave. 

"  I  rose  again,  but  I  am  not  sure  yet  if  I  am  quite 
sober.  It  is  true  that  this  does  not  trouble  me,  for, 
since  I  have  been  staying  here,  I  have  adopted  the 
laudable  custom  of  getting  drunk  twice  a  day.  You 
perceive  that  I  benefit  by  my  travels,  and  adopt  the 
good  habits  of  the  countries  where  I  make  some  stay. 
I  hope  you  will  find  me  much  improved,  and  for  the 
better.  Nothing  forms  character  so  much  as  travel ; 
you  can  judge  of  it  by  the  life  I  lead  here. 

"  I  rise  at  ten  o'clock,  my  head  still  very  hot  from 
the  wine  I  have  drunk  the  night  before.  I  take  a  great 
deal  of  tea,  I  dress,  and  I  go  and  pay  my  respects  to 


324  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

the  Bishop.  The  Baron  von  Pechtelsheim,  the  Court- 
Marshal,  invites  me  to  dine  with  this  Prince.  He 
promises,  and  even  swears,  that  I  shall  not  drink.  We 
sit  down  to  table  at  noon.  The  Bishop  does  me  the 
honour  to  drink  two  or  three  times  to  my  health.  The 
Baron  von  Zobel,  Grand  Equerry,  and  the  Baron  von 
Pechtelsheim  drunk  the  same  ;  I  have  to  drink  with 
fourteen  people  who  are  at  table.  I  find  myself  sub- 
merged before  I  begin  to  eat.  We  rise,  I  accompany 
the  Prince  to  the  door  of  his  chamber,  he  retires,  and  I 
hope  to  do  the  same,  when  I  find  myself  the  prisoner 
in  the  anteroom  of  the  Grand  Equerry  and  the  Court- 
Marshal,  who,  with  big  glasses  in  their  hands,  drink  to 
the  Prince's  health,  '  and  to  the  eternal  prosperity  of 
the  most  worthy  Chapter  of  Wiirzburg.' 

"  I  protest  that  I  am  the  Bishop's  humble  servant, 
and  that  I  have  much  respect  for  the  most  worthy 
Chapter,  but  that  to  drink  to  their  health  impairs  my 
own  ;  and  I  implore  them  to  allow  that  I  do  not  comply 
with  their  request.  Vain  words  ;  I  am  obliged  to  drink 
these  two  healths,  or  to  appear  as  not  being  a  well- 
wisher  to  the  Prince  and  his  Chapter.  Happy  if  I  get 
off  with  this  ! 

"  But  Herr  Zobel,  one  of  the  most  intrepid  drinkers 
of  our  century,  seizes  my  hand  and  says  to  me,  with  a 
most  sincere  and  cordial  manner  :  '  You  are  too  de- 
voted to  our  Prince  not  to  drink  to  the  illustrious  House 
of  Houtten  !  ' 

"  After  these  touching  words  he  empties  a  large  glass 
as  witness  of  his  zeal  for  his  master's  kin.  An  officious 
haiduk  brings  me  a  glass,  and,  inspired  by  the  spirit 
which  pervades  this  Court,  he  assures  me  that  this  wine 
cannot  harm  me,  because  it  is  the  same  which  the  Prince 
drinks.  Reassured  by  such  a  good  reason,  I  drink  ; 
the  next  moment  I  reel  and  am  helpless  ;  then,  to 
finish  me  off,  Pechtelsheim,  one  of  the  best-bred  men 
of  our  time,  but  also  the  hardest  drinker  I  know,  accosts 
me  with  a  smiling  air,  saying :  '  Allons !  my  dear 
Baron  !    one  more  glass  to  our  friendship  !  ' 


THE  VAGEANT  325 

"  I  implore  him  to  grant  me  quarter  ;  he  embraces 
me,  kisses  me,  calls  me  his  dear  brother.  How  can  I 
resist  such  loving  words  ?  At  last  I  arrive  at  such  a 
state  that  I  can  only  walk  in  zigzags.  I  find  a  way  of 
escape,  I  get  down  the  stairs  as  best  I  can,  and  stuff 
myself  into  a  sedan-chair.  I  reach  home,  my  people 
receive  me  like  a  corpse,  and  place  me  on  a  bed  to 
await  my  funeral. 

"  I  sleep  for  three  or  four  hours,  awake  miraculously, 
pay  visits,  or  receive  them  ;  but,  whichever  I  do,  I 
soon  find  myself  in  a  condition  of  not  being  able  to  walk 
alone.  There  is  never  a  tete-d-tete  here  but  the  bottle  is 
always  admitted  as  en  tiers.  I  am  inclined  to  the  belief 
that  the  inhabitants  of  this  place  are  the  descendants 
of  Silenus,  and  that  their  ancestral  drunkard  left  them, 
as  a  legacy,  the  gift  of  drinking,  just  as  St.  Hubert  has 
left  to  his  family  the  gift  of  curing  madness. 

"  I  dined  yesterday  with  the  Reverend  Fathers  the 
Scotch  Benedictines,  They  gave  me  a  good  table  and 
some  excellent  wine,  called  Stein  wine,  apparently 
because  it  grows  on  a  rock.'* 

Life  at  Wiirzburg  was  gay.  During  Carnival  the 
Prince-Bishop  entertained  the  nobility  at  great  banquets, 
gave  balls,  and  even  masquerades,  at  Coui't,  though  he 
himself  was  a  cultivated,  intellectual  man  who  did  not 
care  for  pomp,  but  rose  early  in  the  morning  and  de- 
voted himself  to  affairs  of  State  with  his  Council  and 
his  Ministers,  But  he  had  perforce  to  maintain  the 
traditions  of  the  Court.  During  the  winter  society 
assembled  at  different  houses  for  cards,  and  in  Carnival 
time  there  was  a  ball  three  days  a  week  in  a  house  kept 
by  a  caterer,  and  supported  by  subscription ;  but 
visitors  were  allowed  in  free. 

"  All  this  was  pleasant  enough  if  the  company  had 
not  sometimes  been  disturbed  by  drunkards.  It  is 
true  that  these  do  not  trouble  the  inhabitants  very 
much — they  are  used  to  it ;  even  the  ladies,  who  else- 


326  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

where  avoid  these  sort  of  people,  do  not  seem  here 
to  have  any  particular  repugnance  to  them.  Visitors 
have  really  every  reason  to  be  satisfied  with  the  civility 
of  the  Prince  and  his  courtiers.  As  for  me,  I  had  reason 
to  be  exceedingly  pleased  with  the  attentions  paid  me. 
The  Prince  loaded  me  with  kindness,  and  the  nobility 
with  civility.  But  for  being  obliged  to  drink,  I  should 
have  enjoyed  myself  much  in  this  city."' 

Pollnitz  was  rowed  down  the  Main,  admiring  the 
lovely  views  of  smiling  vineyards  and  fine  country- 
houses,  to  Frankfort.  Here  he  received  a  piece  of  news 
which  could  not  have  sorely  afflicted  him.  Cousin 
Henrietta  Charlotte  was  dead.  She  had  bequeathed 
her  estates  to  Charles  and  Maurice,  but  the  rest  of  her 
fortune  to  her  mother,  who  was  yet  alive. 

But,  on  arriving  at  Diisseldorf ,  the  Baron  found  his 
brother's  satisfaction  at  having  inherited  the  property 
somewhat  damped,  for  they  had  lost  the  suit  on 
which  they  and  their  cousin  had  embarked.  **  My 
brother  was  in  a  very  bad  temper  with  the  Judges  who 
had  decided  against  us.  As  for  me,  ever  accustomed 
to  ill-luck,  I  endeavoured  to  comfort  him.  ...  It  is 
evidently  not  in  the  order  of  Providence  that  we  are  to 
enjoy  the  good  things  of  this  life." 

He  advised  his  brother  to  go  to  Berlin  and  sell  the 
property  there.  "  The  death  of  our  dear  cousin  had 
given  us  the  power  of  undertaking  this  sale,  as  the 
entail  rested  now  only  between  my  brother  and  me." 

So  Maurice  went  off  to  Berlin,  and  Charles  betook 
himself  to  Hamburg,  there  to  await  the  result  of  the 
sale.  Here  he  spent  a  joyous  winter.  It  was  gayer 
than  usual ;  most  of  the  aristocracy  who  had  houses 
in  the  neighbourhood  came  to  them,  and,  in  addition, 
there  were  several  ministers,  accredited  to  the  Circle  of 
Lower  Saxony,  who  were  pleasant  and  distinguished 
people.  Count  Nat,  a  lieutenant-general  in  the  Em- 
peror's service,  and  late  Minister  to  the  Duke  of  Holstein, 
with  his  charming  wife,  entertained  lavishly  ;    Count 


THE  VAGRANT  327 

Guldenstein  made  a  great  show  and  kept  a  very  good 
table.  Dining  out  daily  at  different  houses,  gambling 
all  the  rest  of  the  day,  with  an  occasional  break  for  the 
opera,  which  was  well  performed  by  a  good  orchestra, 
"  there  was  no  time  to  be  dull  in  a  city  where  there  was 
never  any  question  of  anything  but  amusement  from 
morning  till  night/' 

With  a  good  many  other  people  in  Hamburg  society, 
Pollnitz  went  for  three  weeks  to  the  fair  at  Kiel,  leaving 
the  city  a  desert,  for  there  was  business  done  as  well  as 
pleasure  at  Kiel,  which  was  so  crowded  that  it  was 
difficult  to  find  rooms.  The  nobility  assembled  every 
evening  at  a  house  for  cards,  made  up  supper-parties, 
sometimes  followed  by  a  ball ;  in  addition  there  was  a 
German  theatrical  company.  Pollnitz  paid  a  few  days' 
visit  to  a  friend's  estate  nine  miles  from  Kiel. 

After  Easter  he  heard  from  his  brother  at  Berlin  that 
no  purchaser  was  forthcoming  for  the  estates  there  at 
the  price  they  asked.  So  he  decided  to  go  thither 
himself  to  arrange  matters  with  Maurice.  He  kept  his 
incognito  as  much  as  he  could,  meeting  only  two  or  three 
friends  and  his  lawyers.  When  all  was  settled  the 
brothers  left  for  Zell,  till  the  season  had  arrived  for 
Charles  to  go  and  take  the  waters  at  Carlsbad,  a  pro- 
ceeding doubtless  necessitated  by  his  drinking  bouts  at 
Wiirzburg  the  preceding  summer. 

On  the  way  thither  the  Baron  spent  some  time  at 
the  Court  of  Blankenburg.  He  was  well  received  by  the 
Duke,  in  the  much  improved  palace  in  the  town,  sur- 
rounded by  a  fine  park,  where  the  Duchess,  a  rather 
notorious  lady,  had  a  home-farm  dairy,  having  imported 
a  number  of  cows  from  Switzerland,  which  she  kept  in 
exceedingly  clean  stables. 

*'  My  plan  of  becoming  a  priest  had  now  entirely 
evaporated,  and  I  found  myself  free  to  consider  seriously 
all  the  projects  which  passed  through  my  head.  That 
of  entering  the  service  of  the  Duke  of  Blankenburg  was 
one,  and  directly  I  thought  of  it  I  took  steps  to  carry 


328  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEE 

it  out.  The  Privy  Councillor  undertook  to  speak  for 
me  ;  at  first  he  received  favourable  replies,  but  in  the 
end  this  attempt  shared  the  fate  of  all  the  others  :  I 
received  many  compliments,  but  I  was  refused/' 

So,  after  a  long  visit,  the  Baron  took  his  leave,  pre- 
senting the  Duchess  with  two  fine  dogs  he  had  brought 
with  him,  as  she  was  such  a  lover  of  animals.  In  return 
she  gave  him  a  very  good  likeness  of  her  husband  on  a 
gold  medal,  which  was  valued  at  twenty-five  ducats. 

Passing  by  Barbi,  Pollnitz  paid  his  respects  to  fat 
John  Adolphus,  Duke  of  Saxe-Weissenfels,  in  the  latter's 
fine  new  palace.  The  Baron  had  known  him  when  he  was 
in  the  Prussian  service  under  Frederic  I.  Thence,  by 
Leipzig,  he  reached  Carlsbad. 

Very  wearisome  did  Pollnitz  find  the  way  of  drinking 
the  waters  at  Carlsbad. 

"  You  must  be  shut  up  in  a  room,  however  hot  it  is, 
have  the  stoves  lighted,  torture  yourself  with  two  or 
three  pints  of  water,  which  is  about  as  much  as  twenty 
cups  of  chocolate,  walk  about  a  great  deal,  and  pour 
down  with  sweat.  The  ennui  of  the  morning  is  com- 
pensated for  by  the  good  company  one  sees  during  the 
day  .  .  .  many  visitors,  especially  nobles  of  Bohemia 
and  Austria.  ...  A  public  promenade,  a  large  hall  where 
one  meets,  one  plays,  dines,  and  walks  till  evening. 
Then  those  who  wish  to  follow  the  regime  retire  till 
supper.  ...  To  make  yourself  comfortable  at  Carlsbad 
you  must  bring  three  things :  a  bed,  some  wine,  and  a 
cook.  However,  a  bachelor  can  dispense  with  a  cook, 
because  he  is  almost  continually  invited  to  dinner  by  the 
Austrian  and  Bohemian  nobility,  who  entertain  largely, 
and  delight  in  receiving  people.  I  have  much  amused 
myself  during  the  season  I  passed  there,  and  I  have 
made  good  acquaintances  who  may  be  useful  to  me  at 
Prague.'" 

Pollnitz  took  both  the  Sprudal  and  Miihlbad  springs, 


THE  VAGRANT  329 

the  latter  only  recently  recommended  by  a  doctor  who 
had  found  it  efficacious  for  bathing  animals  in. 

"  What  I  find  so  disagreeable  is  that  one  has  to  take 
the  waters  in  one's  room,  which  one  must  take  care  to 
shut  up  tightly,  because  the  Sprudal  makes  one  perspire 
very  much,  and  if  one  were  to  take  cold  one  would  risk 
getting  rheumatism.  One  does  not  generally  go  out 
till  about  three  quarters  of  an  hour  after  one  has  drunk 
it ;  the  rest  of  the  day  one  has  to  walk  about  very  much, 
to  avoid  going  to  sleep,  which  is  very  dangerous  after 
dinner." 

The  walks  were  limited  in  extent.  "  There  are 
nothing  but  rocks,  whichever  way  you  turn,"  and 
rocks  were  not  compatible  with  the  high-heeled  foot- 
gear of  the  period. 

"  The  finest  promenade  is  a  tree-planted  square  with 
avenues  of  lime-trees.  In  front  is  a  house  where  society 
gathers  on  fine  evenings  at  five  o'clock,  and  plays  till 
eight,  which  is  .supper-time.  One  must  be  careful  to  be 
very  sober  at  this  repast,  as  a  regime  is  one  of  the  most 
necessary  things  when  one  is  taking  the  waters." 

To  make  up  for  the  boredom  which  he  had  undergone 
at  Carlsbad,  the  Baron,  when  his  cure  was  over,  betook 
himself  to  Prague,  for  some  of  those  grand  court  cere- 
monies in  which  his  soul  delighted. 

The  Emperor  Charles  VI  was  much  occupied  in  en- 
deavouring to  secure  the  succession  of  the  eldest  of  his 
two  daughters,  Maria  Theresa,  to  his  hereditary  do- 
minions, planning,  in  fact,  what  is  called  the  Pragmatic 
Sanction,  which  he  hoped  to  induce  all  the  Great  Powers 
to  sign.  The  Diet  of  Hungary,  as  we  have  already 
sefeii^  had  sworn  fealty  to  its  future  Queen.  Charles  and 
his  wife  were  now  about  to  be  crowned  King  and  Queen 
of  Bohemia,  in  order  that  the  succession  might  be  passed 
on  in  due  time. 


330  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

Pollnitz  arrived  at  the  capital  of  the  Czechs  the  day 
before  the  magnificent  entry  of  the  Imperial  pair, 
which  was  followed  by  the  usual  court  fetes.  He  saw 
all  the  sights  of  the  city,  noting  especially  the  fine  hotels 
of  the  Bohemian  nobles,  and  enjoyed  himself  at  Prague. 

"  The  Bohemians  are  the  pleasantest  people  in  the 
world,  and  Prague  one  of  the  cities  of  the  Empire  where 
one  can  best  choose  one's  society.  The  ladies  are 
agreeable.  Play,  which  one  may  call  the  universal 
amusement,  can  be  carried  to  any  length  one  wishes  in 
the  houses  of  the  aristocracy,  where  each  evening  a 
company  collects  of  either  sex.  .  .  .  There  was  a  passable 
Italian  opera ;  in  winter  splendid  sleigh-drives  ;  much 
masquerading,  one  dances  oneself  out  of  breath  ;  and 
there  are  public  balls  which  are  very  well  arranged,  and 
could  be  compared  to  the  Haymarket  balls  in  London,  if 
anything  could  be  compared  with  them.  ...  In  the 
summer  the  meeting-place  is  in  Prince  Schwarzenberg's 
garden,  where  one  plays,  talks,  and  walks.  Then  to 
some  house  to  supper.  ...  In  the  country-houses  one  is 
very  well  entertained  .  .  .  hunting  of  all  kinds.  Many 
nobles  have  packs  of  hounds,  others  have  shooting. 
Most  of  them  have  a  band — for  the  Bohemians  are  very 
musical — so  that  whatever  the  weather  is,  one  is  amused ; 
besides,  one  enjoys  a  complete  liberty.'* 

But,  after  spending  some  time  at  Prague  and  finding 
that  the  coronation  would  not  take  place  for  a  while, 
Pollnitz  decided  to  leave.     For — 

"  The  outlay  I  was  making  at  Prague  was  very  great, 
and  I  considered  that,  if  I  stayed  there  any  longer,  it 
would  no  longer  be  in  my  power  to  carry  out  the  ar- 
rangements I  had  made.  I  had  left  Berlin  with  a  large 
sum,  and  my  plan  was  that,  as  I  was  now  in  a  position 
to  do  so,  I  should  satisfy  all  those  from  whom  I  had 
borrowed  money."' 


CHAPTER    XXIII 

PoLLNiTZ  began  the  meritorious  work  of  paying  his 
debts  by  appeasing  his  "  mad  dogs  "  in  Holland. 

He  went  by  way  of  Cleves  and  Nijmegen.  Thence 
to  Rhenen — 

"  Four  or  five  leagues  on  narrow,  winding  dykes,  very 
broken  by  wet  weather.  The  road  seemed  made  for 
the  destruction  of  the  human  race,  especially  as  I  had 
a  stupid  coachman,  shying  horses,  and  so  was  in  danger 
of  breaking  my  neck,  for  in  Holland  public  conveyances 
are  made  to  upset  easily.  Whoever  invented  them  must 
have  studied  what  was  most  uncomfortable  and  best 
adapted  to  kill  people.  Imagine  a  cursed  chariot 
enormously  high,  one  mounts  by  an  iron  ladder,  placed 
between  the  wheels,  which  are  at  most  two  feet  apart. 
The  body  is  covered  with  wooden  trellis  like  an  arbour, 
which  is  covered  with  oil-cloth,  and  is  so  low  that,  at 
the  least  jolt,  one  knocks  against  the  top.  This  infernal 
machine,  doubtless  invented  for  the  entry  of  Persephone 
to  Hades,  instead  of  a  pole  has  a  hook,  with  a  raised  end, 
byl which  the  coachman,  generally  drunk,  guides  the 
carriage  by  leaning  one  foot  upon  it,  while  he  holds  on 
with  the  other  to  the  neck  of  one  of  his^ horses,  which 
almost  touch  the  chariot.  In  this  fearful  shandrydan 
eight  people  are  seated,  who,  as  the  height  of  abomina- 
tion, make  such  a  noise  that  every  head  whirls." 

In  the  province  of  Utrecht  he  passed  many  chateaux, 
which  were  also  to  be  found  in  Gelderland  and  Overyssel, 
he  heard,  as  land  is  not  so  dear  in  these  less  fertile  parts. 

Leyden  University  much  impressed  him. 

331 


332  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

"  There  are  at  this  moment  three  great  professors 
here :  Vitriarius  for  law,  Boerhaven  for  medicine,  and 
S'Gravesande  for  mathematics.  The  first-named,  by 
his  learning  and  his  way  of  lecturing,  attracts  to  Leyden 
all  the  young  nobility  from  Bohemia  and  Austria.  Of 
all  the  Protestant  Universities,  excepting  those  of 
England,  I  know  of  none  where  the  students  are  less 
dissipated  and  noisy  than  at  Leyden.  There  is  no  town 
so  suitable  for  studying  in  ;  there  is  no  squandering, 
one  is  at  the  fountain-head  for  books,  and  living  is  not 
dear.  The  students  do  not  pride  themselves,  as  in 
Germany,  on  their  magnificence  in  dress ;  many  are 
hardly  ever  out  of  a  dressing-gown,  which  is  the  favourite 
costume  of  the  townsfolk.  It  made  me  think  that 
there  was  some  epidemic  prevalent  in  the  town." 

PoUnitz  went  on  to  The  Hague  and  stayed  there  till 
February. 

*'  I  first  paid  a  call  on  my  dear  Pyll,  who  had  behaved 
so  well  to  me  that  I  felt  I  must  satisfy  her  first.  I  then 
made  many  little  payments  on  one  side  or  the  other,  and 
soon  cleared  off  the  debts  I  had  contracted  in  this 
country,  and,  finding  myself  still  with  my  purse  well 
lined,  I  spent  my  time  as  well  as  I  could  in  this  most 
brilliant  Court.  My  debts  paid  off  in  Holland,  the  ease 
with  which  I  set  in  order  my  other  obligations  farther 
away  gave  me  a  peace  of  mind  such  as  I  had  not  enjoyed 
for  a  long  time  ;  and  so,  without  having  as  yet  any 
settled  position,  I  found  it  was  a  pleasant  thing  to  be  a 
man  who  owes  nothing.'' 

At  The  Hague  Pollnitz  found  many  cousins,  descended, 
like  himself,  from  Maurice  of  Nassau. 

"  Of  all  the  blood  of  Nassau-Orange,  of  the  Prince 
who  foimded  the  Republic,  only  one  young  Prince 
remains,  the  Stadtholder  of  Frisia,  besides  the  Counts  of 
Ouvverkerke,  Zeist,  Laleck — of  the  left  hand." 


THE  VAGRANT  333 

Society  at  The  Hague  was  good.     It — 

**  Was  the  easiest  place  in  Europe  to  make  acquaint- 
ances. .  .  .  Assemblies,  plays,  promenades.  .  .  .  The 
Voorhout  on  summer  evenings  full  of  the  coaches  of  the 
heau  motide .  .  .  the  drive  to  the  sea  at  Scheveningcn  along 
fine  avenues  paved  with  bricks,  and  bordered  with  a 
double  line  of  yew-trees  cut  pyramid  shape. . . .  Charming 
walks  every  way,  and  even  inside  the  town.  .  .  ." 

Society  was  cosmopolitan  at  The  Hague.  There  were, 
besides  the  ambassadors  of  many  nations,  "  my  lady 
d'Albemarle,""  widow  of  the  Count  of  that  name,  page 
to  William  of  Orange.  She  was  the  first  lady  at  The 
Hague.  The  Lieutenant-General  of  the  States,  Keppel, 
made  a  great  show,  and  had  a  brilliant  house.  "  My 
lady  Cadogan,"  widow  of  the  Duke  of  Marlborough's 
faithful  friend,  and  mother  of  the  Duchess  of  Richmond, 
the  favourite  of  Charles  II,  lived  at  The  Hague,  as  did 
also  PoUnitz's  old  acquaintance  the  Countess  Wartenberg, 
turning  night  into  day  and  day  into  night,  her  house 
always  open  to  foreign  visitors,  and  very  high  play 
there.  She  said  of  herself  that  it  was  easier  to  count  the 
shells  on  the  beach  at  Scheveningen  than  for  her  to  count 
her  lovers.  But  she  had  now  lost  all  her  beauty,  and 
had  become  coarse  in  looks  and  manners.  She  died  at 
The  Hague,  lonely  and  neglected,  her  funeral  followed 
only  by  a  few  servants. 

During  this  visit  of  Pollnitz  to  The  Hague  much 
alarm  was  caused  in  Holland  by  a  plague  of  worms 
gnawing  the  dykes  which  protected  the  lowlands  from 
the  sea.  It  was  hoped  that  the  ice  might  stay  their 
damage,  but  in  the  meantime  the  States  ordered  public 
prayers,  and  forbade  any  theatrical  performances. 
Yet  there  were  plenty  of  actors,  and  more  than  one 
opera  company.  A  serious-minded  Jew  had  sent  for  one 
of  these  from  Paris,  in  order  to  oppose  the  comedies 
when  the  theatres  were  open.  An  Anabaptist,  zealous 
for  comedy,  supported  the  theatre.  All  The  Hague  sided 
with  one  or  the  other  party. 


334  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEB 

"  It  showed,"  says  PoUnitz,  "  the  footing  on  which 
Jews  are  here.  The  Portuguese  Jews  are  very  generous  ; 
they  make  a  great  display,  are  admitted  to  the  Assembly, 
entertain  largely,  give  much  in  charity  ;  in  fact,  only 
differ  from  others  in  that  they  go  to  synagogue." 

Amsterdam  interested  the  Baron  greatly,  though, 
aristocrat  to  his  finger-tips,  Pollnitz  did  not  approve  of 
the  Republic  and  of  the  republican  taste  and  bourgeois 
tone  of — 

"  This  modern  Tyre,  this  mistress  of  trade,  this  shop 
of  the  world  .  .  .  her  edifices,  sacred  and  profane,  are  fine 
enough  ;  but  also,  to  speak  frankly,  they  are  somewhat 
bourgeois  in  taste,  which  one  does  not  find  in  the 
buildings  in  Venice  and  Genoa,  where  taste  is  more 
refined  because  the  nobles  govern.  Amsterdam  is  the 
only  town  in  the  world  which  can  be  compared  in  any 
way  with  Venice  ;  for,  though  it  is  not  built  like  the  latter, 
in  the  middle  of  the  sea,  it  is  also  built  on  piles.  Like 
Venice,  it  is  composed  of  a  quantity  of  islands,  and  the 
principal  streets  are  canals  ;  with  this  advantage,  that 
they  are  edged  with  wide  quays  planted  with  trees, 
whilst  at  Venice  the  water  is  only  confined  by  the  houses 
themselves.  That  is,  I  think,  the  only  resemblance 
between  these  two  rivals  of  commerce  ;  for,  as  for  the 
beauty  of  the  buildings,  there  is  no  comparison  at  all ; 
a  Grand  Canal  and  a  Canale  Reggio  are  worth  more 
in  this  respect  than  all  Amsterdam.  There,  there  are 
palaces ;  here  there  are  houses,  clean,  neat,  pretty, 
without  architectural  style  and  built  of  brick." 

Mediaeval  style  did  not  appeal  to  eighteenth-century 
taste. 

"  In  old  days  the  manner  of  building  of  the  Amsterdam 
folk  was  most  extraordinary.  Most  of  the  old  houses 
still  left  are  mounted  on  stilts.     The  front  of  the  first 


THE  VAGRANT  335 

floor  above  the  ground-floor  is  usually  all  windows, 
separated  by  pillars  of  wood,  which  support  the  masonry 
of  the  other  floors,  happily  very  light,  for  it  is  unusual 
for  a  wall  to  be  more  than  two  bricks  thick,  and  the 
ceilings  are  nothing  but  planks  ;  so  that  one  has  the 
advantage  of  not  being  able  to  speak  on  the  first  floor 
without  being  heard  on  the  second  floor.  I  will  not 
criticise  the  arrangement  of  the  rooms,  though,  in  truth, 
the  architects  do  not  understand  anything  about  it, 
nor  of  how  to  set  up  the  chimneys,  which  nearly  all 
smoke.  It  is  true  that  the  inhabitants  are  not  much 
troubled  about  this,  and  could  as  well  do  without  them. 
(This  mode  of  life  applies  only  to  the  people,  and  not 
to  persons  of  a  certain  rank,  or  to  some  of  the  merchants.) 
The  women  warm  themselves  all  day  long  with  a  peat 
which  they  place  into  a  little  earthenware  pot  and  put 
under  their  petticoats,  where  they  sit  on  them  as  a  hen 
does  on  her  chickens.  The  men,  when  at  home,  are 
always  in  dressing-gowns  lined  with  flannel  and  wrapped 
up  in  two  or  three  thick  jackets.  If  the  cold  is  very 
severe  they  also  use  a  stoof,  as  the  heater  is  called  which 
I  have  just  said  the  ladies  use  ;  or  else  they  warm  them- 
selves in  the  kitchen,  where  there  is  never  too  much 
bustle  to  prevent  one  getting  near  the  hearth  ;  and  I 
wager  that  there  are  many  people  comfortably  off  who 
only  put  the  soup-pot  on  once  a  week.  No  nation  is 
so  badly  fed  as  the  Dutch  :  butter,  milk,  cheese,  salt 
fish,  are  their  usual  dishes. 

"  But  I  am  getting  away  from  my  subject,  their 
manner  of  building.  I  do  not  know  how  such  lightly 
built  houses  can  hold  together  :  therefore  there  are 
some  which  have  a  bending  appearance,  which  I  prefer 
more  in  a  danseuse  than  in  a  house.  A  good  many  have 
lately  been  restored.  One  of  these  gables,  like  a  sugar- 
loaf,  has  unfortunately  fallen  down,  and  killed  three 
people  passing  in  the  street.  The  Government,  very 
anxious  to  avoid  any  accident,  has  ordered  the  landlords 
to  pull  down  these  sloping  pyramids,  and  one  is  no 
longer  in  danger  of  having  one's  head  broken,  and  the 


336  A  VAGABOND  COUBTIER 

town  is  all  the  finer.  Their  principal  decoration  is 
window ;  there  is  no  country  which  has  such  fine  glazing, 
and  in  many  houses  the  panes  are  of  very  good  glass. 
In  the  palaces  of  Venice  and  Genoa  the  painting  and 
the  gilding  of  the  ceilings  alone  are  worth  more  than 
the  finest  house  in  Amsterdam.  I.  do  not  deny  that 
there  are  houses  here  on  the  building  of  which  no  ex- 
pense has  been  spared  ;  but  usually  they  are  small ; 
none  have  more  than  five  windows  in  front,  others  four, 
and  the  most  only  three.  One  enters  by  steps  of  a 
sort  of  marble,  or  black  stone.  In  houses  of  the  usual 
size  one  finds  a  narrow  hall  with  a  floor  of  white  marble, 
and  often  the  walls  are  panelled  to  a  certain  height  with 
it.''  (Does  Pollnitz  allude  to  Dutch  tiles?)  "The 
house  usually  consists  of  two  rooms  on  the  ground-floor, 
a  little  courtyard  beyond,  a  second  detached  building 
only  one  room  deep,  with  a  view  into  the  garden.  At 
Venice  or  Genoa  a  merchant  (I  do  not  take  noblemen 
into  account)  would  have  at  least  an  apartment  of  three 
or  four  rooms.  At  Amsterdam  the  furniture  is  cleaner, 
in  Italy  finer.  Here  there  will  be  a  fine  Flemish  tapestry, 
a  small  room  with  pictures,  fine  mirrors,  a  quantity  of 
china  and  beautiful  knick-knacks  from  India  ;  the  floor 
will  be  covered  with  a  fine  Persian  carpet,  but  you  will 
not  find  furniture  upholstered  in  velvet,  embroidered 
with  gold,  chandeliers  of  rock-crystal,  abundance  of 
pictures,  of  antique  busts,  of  vases,  of  statues  in  marble 
and  bronze.  Finally,  I  will  tell  you,  to  wind  up  this 
long  comparison,  that  if  the  Italian  palaces  were  as 
clean  as  the  Amsterdam  houses  they  would  be  unsur- 
passed, and  if  the  houses  at  Amsterdam  were  as  neglected 
as  those  in  Italy  no  one  would  look  at  them. 

"  However  small  a  house  is  here,  there  is  always  one 
room  not  lived  in,  and  it  is  the  best  room  in  the  house. 
It  is  a  Sanctuary  of  which  the  head  maid-servant  in  the 
house  is  the  High  Priestess.  She  has  such  respect  for 
this  reserved  spot,  that  she  never  enters  it  without  taking 
her  shoes  of!  for  fear  of  soiling  the  floor,  for  which  they 
have  such  a   veneration   that  they  devote  a  sort  of 


S^^V^:^'-^^^ 


o    ■• 


H     o 


THE  VAGRANT  337 

worship  to  it ;  it  is  the  lares  fenates,  and  you  draw  down 
upon  yourself  the  indignation  of  the  mistress  of  the 
house  and  of  the  maids  if  you  have  not  as  much  respect 
for  their  floors  as  they  have.  Before  entering  a  house, 
you  must  wipe  your  feet  well  on  a  mat  you  find  outside 
the  door  ;  then  you  must  not  spit,  even  if  you  should 
choke,  unless  you  find  a  little  utensil  full  of  sand  in- 
tended for  this  purpose  ;  you  must  let  nothing  tall 
that  can  stain  it,  otherwise  I  will  not  answer  for  it,  that 
the  Priestess  does  not  immolate  the  delinquent  to  their 
idol,  and  that  the  fable  of  Orpheus  and  the  Bacchantes 
is  not  brought  to  life  again.  On  certain  days  of  the 
year  the  Priestesses  allow  their  masters  to  enter  the 
Sanctuary,  and  even  to  receive  company  there  ;  but  the 
next  day  this  spot,  which  is  called  in  the  language  of 
the  country  Beste  Kamer  (the  fine  room),  is  washed  and 
purified  as  our  churches  are  when  they  have  been 
profaned.  I  do  not  exaggerate  when  I  say  that  there 
are  rooms  which  I  am  sure  are  not  opened  more  than 
four  times  a  year,  unless  it  be  to  air  the  furnitui-e.  It 
is  the  same  with  thousands  of  beautiful  things  in  Amster- 
dam, which  are  not  used  for  fear  of  spoiling  them. 
People  live  in  the  midst  of  abundance  and  riches,  with- 
out any  satisfaction  from  them.  However,  for  the  last 
few  years  they  begin  to  enjoy  life  somewhat ;  they 
launch  out  into  carriages,  furniture,  into  country  excur- 
sions, and  their  wives  into  dress  and  furniture.  The 
old  people  exclaim  at  the  new  habits;  they  say  the 
Republic  is  on  the  down-grade.  In  that  they  resemble 
one  of  our  Emperors,  who,  noticing  that  his  Equerry  had 
changed  the  rope-traces  which  were  in  use  at  Court  for 
better  ones,  exclaimed  :  '  that  luxury  would  ruin  his 
family  and  his  State.' 

"  Amsterdam  is  as  large  as  Naples,  five  hundred 
thousand  inhabitants.  Its  situation  is  one  of  the 
marvels  of  the  world.  It  is  built  on  such  low  ground 
that  it  would  be  in  constant  danger  if  the  people  had  not 
made  embankments  as  high  as  the  waves  which  always 
see-n  ready  to  overwhelm  it," 

I  -  22 


338  A  VAGABOND  COURTIEB 

The  gently  flowing  Amstel,  the  fine  bridges,  the 
canals,  brick-edged  and  bordered  with  lime  and  elm, 
the  shining  doorsteps,  the  glistening  big  windows — all 
excited  his  admiration,  and  especially  the  clean  streets. 

"  They  are  carefully  washed  once  a  week.  Apropos 
of  that  I  will  tell  you  that  there  is  no  place  where  washing 
is  in  so  much  favour  as  Amsterdam  ;  every  week  they 
never  miss  washing  the  interior  of  the  house,  and  all  the 
cooking  utensils,  so  that  the  washing  is  never-ending. 
Indeed,  otherwise  everything  would  grow  mouldy  and 
spoil.  But  I  think  that,  unless  they  were  obliged  to 
wash,  the  Dutch  would  not  waste  time  over  it,  for  other- 
wise I  have  not  seen  them  plume  themselves  upon 
cleanliness.  The  gentlemen  wear  a  shirt  fifteen  days, 
under  a  greasy,  very  disgusting  woollen  jacket.  Their 
manner  of  eating  is  not  very  clean.  Mostly  they  know 
of  no  other  forks  than  their  fingers,  with  which  they 
fish  for  salad  swimming  in  vinegar,  which  is  usually 
their  favourite  dish." 

The  Town  Hall,  though  its  seven  porticoes  were  too 
narrow,  Pollnitz  thought  the  finest  public  building.  He 
saw  over  the  dungeons,  in  the  adjoining  vaults  to  the 
Treasury,  "  very  clean,  well  lighted,  the  prisoners  less 
ill-treated  than  elsewhere  ;  they  are  fed,  and  not  left 
lying  in  filth."  (!) 

The  busy  life  of  the  merchant  on  'Change  in  the 
Square  struck  him  much.  "  To  see  them  running  to 
and  fro  all  over  this  Square,  there  is  no  one  in  the  world 
but  would  take  them  for  madmen." 

The   Admiralty   was   a   little   town  to   itself.  The 

seventy  men-of-war    were    superior   to   those   of  the 

Venetians,  and  there  were  materials  to  build  more.  He 
admired  the  India  House,  a  great  building — 

"  Full  of  spices,  masses  of  valuable  things.  I  was 
embalmed  like  a  mummy  after  an  hour's  walk  through  it. 


THE  VAGEANT  339 

A  corpse  put  there  would  not  decay,  joking  apart. 
The  India  Company  is  a  Republic  in  a  Republic  ;  ap- 
points and  dismisses  officers  and  soldiers.  In  the 
Indies  the  Governor  lives  better  than  his  masters  here. 
One  might  say  to  a  director  of  the  Company,  '  I  wish 
you  may  one  day  be  Governor  in  Batavia,'  as  a  Nea- 
politan lady  wished  at  Madrid  to  Philip  the  Fourth, 
that  he  might  be  one  day  Viceroy  of  Naples. 

"  I  did  not  see  the  House  of  Correction  or  any  of  the 
numerous  Hospitals,  because  I  have  a  great  dislike  of 
prisons,  and  the  name  of  a  hospital  alarms  me.  I  see 
I  am  going  there  fast,  and  it  will  be  time  enough  to  see 
it  when  I  take  up  my  abode  there. 

"  Since  it  began  to  freeze  I  hold  my  assizes  on  the 
ice  to  see  the  skaters  slide — a  favourite  exercise  of  the 
Dutch,  which  they  do  marvellously  well.  Their  skates 
are  rather  thin  little  pieces  of  wood,  smooth  as  knitting- 
needles,  except  where  the  heel  and  the  flat  of  the  foot 
should  rest,  which  is  a  little  wider.  The  rest  is  thin, 
and  turned  up  at  the  end,  so  that  the  iron  below  may 
the  more  easily  break  through  snow  and  avoid  irregulari- 
ties and  obstacles.  Thus  one  goes  very  regularly,  but 
not  without  danger  of  breaking  one's  arms  or  one's  legs 
or  of  drowning.  The  Dutch  learn  to  skate  before  they 
can  walk.  It  is  the  amusement  of  the  common  people, 
and  of  the  very  young.  Adults  and  gentlefolk  go  in 
sleighs  as  we  do,  called  here  '  Narren,'  meaning  to 
behave  as  a  fool.     It  seems  true. 

"  On  the  Amstel  outside  the  Utrecht  gate  several 
thousand  people  run  on  skates  so  fast  that  they  seem 
to  fly.  If  one  of  these  were  to  appear  in  Switzerland, 
he  might  share  the  fate  of  Brioche,  the  marionette- 
player,  and  be  burnt  as  a  wizard  by  the  Helvetians. 

"  The  skaters  are  a  great  resource  to  me,  as  I  am 
very  bored  in  this  town.  It  is  not  the  place  for  those  who 
are  not  in  business.  The  foreign  visitor  does  not  know 
what  is  to  become  of  him.  His  only  refuge  is  a  dull 
cafe,  or  the  promenade.  In  the  first,  one  is  smoked 
out,  or  deafened  by  the  poor  remarl^s  on  the  newspapers, 


340  A  VAGABOND  COURTIER 

on  the  price  of  pepper  and  ginger ;  in  the  other,  one 
is  alone. 

The  play  is  a  poor  resource  for  those  who  do  not 
know  the  Dutch  language,  which,  like  our  own,  is  not 
suited  to  the  drama.  The  actors  are  pitiable,  the  dresses 
bad,  the  scenery  good,  and  the  theatre  large  and  fine. 
I  do  not  know  why  the  Magistrates  will  not  allow 
French  comedy  to  be  played  in  this  town.  It  appears  to 
me  that  it  would  do  more  good  than  harm,  would  polish 
up  the  young  men,  and  keep  them  from  dissipation, 
which  idleness  and  the  dijB&culty  of  knowing  where  to 
spend  the  evenings  lead  to.  D'Argenson,  when  he 
was  Head  of  the  Police,  told  me  that  there  were  more 
disorders  and  debauchery  in  Paris  during  the  fortnight 
at  Easter  when  the  theatres  were  closed,  than  in  four 
months  when  they  were  open.  It  would  soon  be  the 
same  at  Amsterdam,  where  the  lazy  young  men,  with 
parents,  blind  in  their  kindness,  always  ready  to  kill  the 
fatted  calf,  are  left  to  themselves ;  they  are  usually  edu- 
cated with  little  principle,  and  abandon  themselves  to 
excesses,  the  result  of  passion.  These  youths  prefer 
driving  a  chaise  to  all  other  forms  of  exercise  ;  they 
wish  to  play  the  dandy.  You  can  imagine  how  they 
set  about  it. 

"  The  assemblies  in  society  are  not  attractive.  The 
faces  are  pretty,  but  the  owners  will  not  say  a  word,  at 
least  to  a  stranger.  One  takes  tea,  a  turn  at  ombre  or 
quadrille,  and  then  one  seeks  for  supper. 

"  Parties  where  there  are  no  ladies  are  even  duller. 
You  smoke  and  drink  a  great  deal,  discuss  trade  or 
politics,  and  then  wish  bad  luck  to  the  Powers  who  have 
prevented  useless  Dutch  goods  going  into  their  States  ! 

' '  The  only  remedy  against  idleness  is  reading.  Amster- 
dam is  the  centre  of  booksellers,  officious  booksellers, 
who  lend  books  to  people  like  myself,  who  cannot 
burden  themselves  with  a  library.  I  divide  my  time 
between  reading,  the  cafe,  and  the  promenade  ;  but 
the  walks  are  far  off.  .  .  .  The  canals  here  make  nice 
walks,  because  the  banks  are  planted ;  but  the  pavement 


THE  VAGRANT  341 

is  unpleasant.  The  view  from  the  bridge  which  joins 
the  embankment  of  one  side  of  the  Amstel  to  the  other, 
and  which  is  six  hundred  and  sixty  feet  long,  by  seventy- 
five  feet  wide,  is  comparable  to  the  Pont  Royal  at  Paris. 

**  There  are  two  synagogues  here,  one  for  Portuguese 
and  one  for  German  Jews.  Both  are  Jews,  but  they 
differ  in  heart  and  feelings.  The  first  are  the  less  ugly  ; 
they  wear  their  beards  tidily  trimmed,  and  are  well- 
mannered  people.  I  saw  one  who  was  a  good-looking 
young  man,  and  a  dandy.  He  had  been  brought  up  a 
Christian,  and  seemed  a  faithful  one ;  but  when  he  was 
in  Paris,  in  the  suite  of  an  ambassador,  he  fled,  and 
came  to  Amsterdam,  where  he  Judaized  as  if  he  had 
never  heard  our  Lord  named. 

"  Whenever  I  went  into  society  in  Holland  I  was 
looked  upon  as  a  curiosity.  Yet  I  am  not  a  dandy, 
and  my  face  evokes  nothing  but  indifference.  The 
Fair  Sex  in  this  country  is  very  handsome  ;  the  peasants 
have  the  complexions  of  ladies  ;  the  country  beauties 
are  all  fair,  with  an  indolent  look,  as  if  they  would  not 
refuse  their  heart  to  a  young  swain  who  asked  it.  For  me, 
who  am  no  longer  of  an  age  for  adventures,  I  contented 
myself  with  admiring  these  nymphs." 

PoUnitz  thought  the  Dutch  so  honest  and  straight- 
forward and  friendly — unless  they  had  to  open  their 
purses.  He  got  on  excellently  with  them.  "  If  you 
treat  them  well,  they  do  what  you  like.  As  Charles  V 
said  :  '  You  must  speak  fair  words  to  the  Dutch,  leave 
them  a  shadow  of  liberty,  but  make  them  pay  up  well.'  " 
They  are  miserly,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  charitable,  and 
wish  people  to  be  able  to  live.  They  do  not  possess 
"  that  which  to-day  outweighs  everything — a  brilliant 
intellect,"  but  he  thought  that  they  had  plenty  of  good 
common  sense. 

Often,  in  the  canal  boats,  he  listened  to  conversation, 
and  was  surprised  to  hear  how  the  common  people 
talked,  of  trade,  of  the  interests  of  the  State,  of  other 
countries,  of  manners  of  other  nations,  of  the  history  of 


342  A  VAGABOND  COUETIEE 

their  own  land,  far  more  intelligently,  perhaps,  than  the 
epigram-makers,  the  weavers  of  rondeaux  and  bouts- 
rimes,  did  elsewhere. 

The  people  can  be  insolent,  but,  if  a  stranger  does 
not  annoy  them  by  his  haughtiness,  they  will  not  come 
out  of  their  phlegm. 

"  They  do  not  fleece  the  stranger,  except  in  a  hole  like 
Hallevoetsluis,  or  at  Rotterdam,  where  one  Carpentier,  a 
French  refugee,  keeps  the  tavern '  Marechal  de  Turenne,' 
but  not  in  good  towns.  If  a  visitor  will  be  human, 
and  Hve  at  a  table  d'hote,  he  will  know  what  he  is  spending. 
The  ordinary  is  by  rule  ;  wine,  lodging,  are  a  fixed  price. 
Only  supper  makes  a  breach  in  your  purse.  Carriages 
by  land  and  water  are  charged  for,  except  in  the  ice 
season." 

Pollnitz  went  to  Haarlem,  where  the  only  thing  he 
noticed  was  a  sort  of  rosette  of  muslin  trimmed  with 
lace,  which  his  guide  pointed  out  to  him  tied  to  some 
of  the  doors.  ''  It  was  a  mark  that  a  woman  was  lying- 
in  in  the  house,  and  her  husband  is  therefore  entitled  to 
the  privilege  of  not  being  arrested  for  debt  during  the 
six  weeks  that  his  wife  is  laid  up." 

At  Saardam  he  saw  thousands  of  windmills  at  work, 
sawing  wood.  "  The  wide  trousers  of  the  people  would 
make  a  coat  for  other  nations.  They  wear  huge  silver 
buttons,  and  the  women  gold  and  silver  jewelry." 

In  Pollnitz's  time  the  national  dress  was  still  the  rule. 
He  knew  a  young  man  whose  father  refused  to  recognize 
him  because  he  came  on  the  Bourse  at  Amsterdam  in 
French  clothes. 

END    OF   VOL.    I 


Printed  hy  Hcuell,  Watson  «t   Vineff,  Ld.,  London  and  AyUihury,  England. 


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